B.C. COVID-19, flu vaccine invites to go out around Thanksgiving: Dr. Henry

Updated COVID-19 vaccines are arriving in B.C. ahead of a fall vaccination campaign, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said in an announcement Thursday.

“Most people will expect to start getting invitations to get your vaccination starting right after the Thanksgiving weekend around Oct. 10,” Dr. Henry said.

Vaccinations will begin in long-term care homes starting next week, she said.

“This updated vaccine will protect us from what’s going around right now and give an extra boost to that long-term immunity that we still have,” Dr. Henry said.

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She says over 1,300 pharmacies around B.C. will be offering both the COVID-19 and flu vaccines, with additional capacity in public health units.

Some family physician and pediatrician offices will also have vaccines available, Dr. Henry said, particularly for children.

She said the recommendation is still for people to get their COVID-19 vaccine about six months after their last dose or infection. It takes about a week for maximum protection to kick in and that lasts for two to three months, she added.

Dr. Henry also recommends people get both their flu and COVID-19 vaccines in the same appointment.

“You’ll be able to book the appointments at the same time in a much less complicated way than last year,” she said.

Health Canada also recently approved the use of the updated Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine for people six months of age and older.

“So we have the two mRNA vaccines that have been approved by Health Canada that we’ll be rolling out in the next few days and weeks here,” Dr. Henry said.