BC will receive 328-thousand Pfizer doses per week throughout June.
Right now, over 70% of the adult population has received the first dose while the rate is more than two-thirds for those 12 and up.
Health Minister Adrian Dix told Vista Radio the uptake from 12-17-year-olds has been tremendous.
“Over 62-thousand children and youth in that category have been immunized, which is about 20% while the rest of our age groupings are at 50% and above and overall, our vaccination rates are very high.”
Dix added once the province received the all-clear to vaccinate the older echelon of the school-aged population, it was thought by many within the government to be a wise decision to inoculate them.
“While it’s true young people have lower rates of transmission, those rates are far from zero. Immunizing those 12 to 17 who are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine right now is a very good idea.”
Dix mentioned roughly 173-thousand children have registered to be vaccinated as of this publication.
While most of the province has seen a strong buy-in in terms of those receiving the jab, a few corners of BC are lagging behind when it comes to vaccinations.
Dix referenced while the current 70% clip for adult first doses is nice – that number could be even higher if a few more areas pick up the slack.
“There are some parts of the province where overall vaccination rates are slightly lower than the average. Some of those are in the Peace country where vaccination rates are trending lower than they are in other parts of the province. Whatever it takes to get people registered and get people vaccinated I want to do.”
Provided everything goes according to plan, Step four of BC’s return to normalcy plan does hint at sporting events and concerts coming back with no capacity restrictions.
While Dix is quite happy case counts, hospitalizations, and test positivity rates are on a downward slide – staying true to the process and not getting ahead of the game remains key.
“COVID-19 has a way with messing with our plans, it always does so we have to be vigilant but I think the plan laid that includes some of those changes in step four that we have talked about on September 7th are attainable if we continue to do our work together and I am very proud of the work British Columbians have done.”
“Every day where there are fewer people that have passed away, every day when there are fewer cases, every day when hospitalizations and critical care go down and every day more people get vaccinated is a joyful day for me.”