B.C. Covid update Thursday: cases up, milestone hit for vaccine program

Two million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will have gone into arms in British Columbia by the end of today.

“This is very good news,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, who said 1,995,496 doses had been administered at the time of her update Thursday (1 p.m.), with 95,868 second doses.

The milestone comes on a day when 694 cases were reported, up by over 100 from Wednesday, with the grand total now at 133,619.

Interior Health had 52 new cases, with 153 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 445 in Fraser Health, 17 in Island Health and 27 in Northern Health.

There was one new death, which was in Interior Health, for a provincial total of 1,595.

B.C. has 6,802 active cases with 457 people in hospital with Covid-19 and 154 in critical or intensive care.

Dr. Henry said as of today, anyone 49 and older can book their vaccine on the Get Vaccinated website.

“With the vaccines we’re receiving this week, we’re now in a place where we can now very quickly move down these age groups, so the important thing is to be registered so you can book your appointment when your age groups comes up,” Henry explained.

The Pfizer vaccine is now approved by Health Canada for children as young as 12, and Henry said B.C. is working on details of a youth vaccine program.

Henry announced B.C. has its first case of blood clot in a woman in her 40s who received the AstraZeneca vaccine. The resident of Vancouver Coastal Health is in stable condition and receiving treatment.

“The information we have is the likelihood of this happening is about one in 100,000 doses,” said Henry, adding there is a test to determine if you have the syndrome that is treatable.

The health officer also reiterated the AstraZeneca shot is a safe and effective vaccine.

“It is an excellent vaccine. We only have to look at places like the U.K. to see how beneficial it has been to stop the outbreaks we have seen,” said Henry.