The province’s top doctor believes that B.C. can get a first dose of COVID vaccine into the arms of everyone ages 12 and up by the end of June.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said that the province is looking at how to integrate 12 to 16 year olds into B.C.’s vaccination program after Health Canada approved Pfizer for that age group Wednesday (May 5) morning.
“We should be able to fit this into our program and still reach that goal of having at least a first dose by the end of June,” she told reporters.
Henry said that there are slightly under 300,000 children ages 12 to 17, a group now approved for a vaccine but not included in the province’s current immunization plan.
B.C. is expected to get more than one million doses of Pfizer in May alone, with Moderna, AstraZeneca and now Johnson & Johnson vaccine shipments also expected.
She said, however, that she believes the province can get to a “low level of transmission” with about 75 per cent of British Columbian adults vaccinated, with immunized teens being a “bonus.”
Trials for children under the age of 12 are also ongoing, Henry said, and noted that Moderna is also running similar clinical trials.
