The medical health officer for Kamloops says roughly one-third of Kamloops residents have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Carol Fenton says there have been a total 31,738 doses that have been administered as of this morning, with 29,665 of those being first doses.
That total number includes people who’ve gotten the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine either at one of two vaccine clinics or in their care homes as well as people who’ve gotten the AstraZeneca vaccine at a pharmacy.
“The COVID-19 vaccines that we have – the trials that were done showed a really strong efficacy – and they showed that really good protection after the first dose,” she said, on the NL Noon Report. “The importance of the second dose is to prolong the duration of protection.”
“Right now, higher numbers of people with a first dose is going to be a more useful way to get the levels of virus circulating down so that we can get back to normal life. And to add to that, we do expect that the first dose by itself works really well for four to six months.”
As of noon today, people who are 40 and older can register online for a vaccine appointment, though currently people 63 and older are actually getting their vaccines under the age based rollout. People 18 and older will be able to register by Friday.
Meanwhile, people aged 40 and older can also choose to get the AstraZeneca vaccine at eligible pharmacies in Kamloops and other communities. Its after the government expanded the eligibility for that vaccine today, which previously was only available to people between the age of 55 and 65.
“Get the first vaccine that’s offered to you as soon as you possibly can,” Mayor Ken Christian, who was vaccinated on Saturday with his age cohort said, in a statement. “The benefits far outweigh the risks and we just need to get the eligible population in our community vaccinated as soon as possible. And then we need to reopen.”
Across Interior Health, there have been just under 234,000 doses of a vaccine administered throughout the health authority. That includes 220,216 first doses and 13,775 second doses of the vaccine.
“I would like to thank each and every person who has been involved in this immunization campaign,” IHA President and CEO Susan Brown said, in a statement. “From people helping book appointments, to those applauding as vaccinated people walk out the door and everyone in between, we are so grateful for the incredible effort behind this campaign.”
Fenton is reminding people who’ve been vaccinated to still follow public health guidelines as it takes two to three weeks for the vaccine to begin protecting people.
“Most of the protection is from the first dose,” she said. “The second dose is mostly important to increase duration, which is why focusing on first doses is so important right now.”
As of April 17, more than 1.2 million British Columbians have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose.
For a list of all Interior Health COVID-19 vaccination clinics and other resources, go here.
Mayor Ken Christian was among many smiling #Kamloops residents receiving COVID-19 vaccinations at the McArthur Island clinic this morning. The mayor, who was vaccinated in the current age group, encourages everyone to become immunized as soon as they are eligible. pic.twitter.com/R3gfEMJBQa
— City of Kamloops (@cityofkamloops) April 17, 2021
We are seeing WAY too many gatherings and our positive cases lately have WAY more contacts to follow up than we would like.
Just a few more months hopefully. But until then…
NO PARTIES ❌🚫🥳🎈🎊🍾❌🚫❌— Carol Fenton (@DrCarolFenton) April 19, 2021
