B.C. offering COVID-19 vaccine boosters to everyone 12 and up next year

The B.C. government has announced that booster shots of COVID-19 vaccine will be offered to several vulnerable groups before the end of the year, and to the broader population beginning in January.

The B.C. government has announced that booster shots of COVID-19 vaccine will be offered to several vulnerable groups before the end of the year, and to the broader population beginning in January.

The province has already started distributing third doses in long-term care homes and assisted living facilities, where some elderly residents are said to have developed weaker antibody responses following vaccination, resulting in another wave of deadly outbreaks.

Extra shots have also been given to some B.C. residents considered extremely clinically vulnerable due to serious health conditions, and to some Indigenous communities that have seen high rates of transmission.

But provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said emerging data suggests a booster shot could provide much longer-lasting protection to the general population as well, prompting the decision to expand eligibility to everyone age 12 and up next year.

"The immunity that we get from these vaccines wanes a little bit over time," Henry said. "But it doesn't fall off a cliff – it's not like you're no longer protected overall, it slowly goes down."

Henry stressed that two doses of vaccine, in any combination, will be enough to protect most people through the winter respiratory season, so the government is first focusing on those most at risk of decreasing immunity and serious infection.

From now through December, additional doses are being offered to seniors age 70 and up, Indigenous residents age 12 and up, clients of long-term home supports, seniors in independent living, and health-care workers who received their two doses in quick intervals back when B.C. began its immunization program last year.