COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered in all long-term care homes in British Columbia, health officials said Friday, while applauding new federal restrictions on international travel that come at a critical time.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry also announced the province will receive fewer doses of the Moderna vaccine than expected, but if transmission gets under control, recreational travel within the province for spring break may be possible.
“I am just relieved, tremendously relieved and grateful that we’ve been able to get into every single long-term care home and assisted-living facility in this province, every single one, and have offered protection to those, our most vulnerable citizens,” Henry said.
It means the first dose of the vaccine has been delivered to all residents and staff who want it and although exact figures weren’t available, Henry said uptake was “very high” and often at 100 per cent.
There are now 23 active outbreaks at long-term care homes, down from 42 outbreaks two weeks ago. One Island facility — Chartwell Malaspina Care Residence in Nanaimo — is affected. In assisted-living facilities there are two outbreaks, down from seven.
“That is progress and it reflects our immunization efforts,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said.
Among the outbreaks declared over is the one at Little Mountain Place, where 41 residents died, making it the deadliest outbreak in B.C. An outbreak at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is still considered active.
The Moderna vaccine shortage of 20 per cent over the next week joins an already-announced shortage of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but Dix and Henry said they expect to begin “catching up” next week.
British Columbia recorded 514 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 66,779. Twenty-nine new confirmed cases were reported in the Island Health region, bringing the number of active infections to 246. Twelve people are in hospital, including five in intensive care.
In B.C., there are 4,557 active cases, including 292 in hospital. Seventy-four people are in intensive care, and five more people have died, bringing the total to date to 1,189.
The province also identified new cases of COVID-19 variants believed to be more contagious than the original strain. There are now seven cases of the strain first identified in the United Kingdom and four associated with South Africa, Henry said.
Two have been linked but three cases are “most concerning,” Henry said, because they are not associated with travel. Contact tracers are investigating.
— With files from Nick Wells and the Times Colonist
