Booster shots crucial in Indigenous communities as COVID cases rise

Indigenous leaders are making a desperate plea to get vaccine booster shots in their communities sooner rather than later as COVID-19 cases rise.

Terry Teegee, Regional Chief with the BC Assembly of First Nations, says immunity to the virus appears to be dropping off.

“I think it’s a really important time to show up and boost the immunity with the third shots. We have heard of many of what are called breakthrough cases in many of our elderly, and those with compromised immunity are getting sick with devastating and deathly consequences,” he said. “Some have succumbed to this disease.”

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Indigenous communities are on the priority list for the province’s booster shot program, along with those in long-term care and other vulnerable populations.

“Double vaxxed people that are actually getting this virus and becoming sick is happening in many communities. I believe it’s because many First Nations, especially remote communities, received the vaccine at the end of December last year,” said Teegee.

Shannon McDonald, Acting Chief Medical Officer for the First Nations Health Authority, says people are very excited to get the boosters. The health authority is ready to release them in collaboration with the provincial and regional health authorities.

“We’ve been working for some time on monitoring the impact of COVID on our population, and we had started to see, starting in about August, an increase in cases among people who had two doses of the vaccine,” she said. “Then we started seeing people hospitalized who had two doses of the vaccine.”

They’re still monitoring and analyzing that data.

Younger people also seem to be getting more regularly infected with COVID-19 in addition to Elders, she adds.

Just as in any family or community, the loss of an Elder is tragic, adds McDonald.

“Elders are our knowledge keepers, they are our language speakers and walking, living libraries for people in the communities itself, so it’s an absolute tragedy,” she said.

“But we also know many of those Elders were quite elderly, may have been in frail health to begin with, so the ability to fight off the infection even with the vaccine would have been limited, but absolutely it’s a tragedy.”

Still, the booster isn’t a “magic bullet,” she emphasizes.

“It will basically kickstart parts of the immune system to be able to respond better,” she said. “One of the things that we do know about many of the people who got sick is that many of them were vaccinated very early on in our vaccine program, so December or January, and then received their second dose within a short period of time.”

One shot of the COVID-19 vaccine helps your immune system recognize the dangerous virus. But getting the second dose offers stronger and longer protection. Dr. Helena Swinkels explains how: https://t.co/0EkDDQXG59 #COVID19BC #COVID19Canada

— FNHA (@fnha) October 29, 2021

In the meantime, the First Nations Health Authority is waiting for further instructions from Health Canada on how to distribute boosters.

Vulnerable populations will receive their boosters before people with healthier immune systems, who may get theirs as late as the spring.

Wet’suwet’en First Nation also issued a statement asking for booster shots for Elders in the North, saying they will be getting them before January.

“Despite all the darkness swirling around us in this pandemic, Chief Maureen Luggi received a very thoughtful & compassionate call from [provincial health officer] Dr. Bonnie Henry today,” reads a post made through the Nation’s Facebook page on Oct. 26.

Henry said in a FNHA press release that vaccines are still highly effective despite declining immunity.

“However, we are starting to see a gradual decline in protection over time.” she said. “As a result, we are taking the proactive step of expanding boosters to everyone in our province.”

As of Oct. 27, there were nearly 5,300 reported cases of COVID-19 within Indigenous communities in B.C.