Vancouver Island is COVID free, or at least it is today.
In today’s written update, the province reported no new COVD-19 cases in the Island Health region.
Overall, B.C. had 109 new cases of COVID-19, including 13 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 65 are in the Fraser Health region, 26 are in the Interior Health region and five are in the Northern Health region.
Sadly, there has been one new COVID-19 related death reported.
On the immunization front, as of today, 76.7 percent of all adults in B.C. and 75.1 percent of those 12 and older have now received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In total, 4,296,151 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 823,371 of which are second doses.
Provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry says that being fully vaccinated – with both doses – gives you and those around you maximum protection, “which is why we encourage everyone to book your second dose as soon as you are eligible.”
“Our supply varies week by week. As a result, while the teams at our mass vaccine clinics will do their best to provide the same mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) for both doses, this may not always be possible. You may be offered the other mRNA vaccine instead,” she added.
“Interchangeability, having a different mRNA vaccine for your second dose, does not impact effectiveness or safety. All of our vaccines are safe and highly effective and that is the case whether you have the same or different vaccine for your second dose.
“Getting fully vaccinated with two doses of World Health Organization-approved vaccines in use in Canada today also ensures you will be able to travel when it is once again safe to do so.”
