B.C. will be receiving a shipment of single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry as she reported 2,491 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, including 82 in Island Health.
There were 17 new deaths, one of which was on the Island, for a total of 1,571 deaths as of Monday.
Canada is expecting 1.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine this week, including about one million of Pfizer-BioNTech, 650,000 of Moderna, and 300,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson — the latest of four COVID-19 vaccines to be administered in the country. No Oxford-AstraZeneca is expected this week.
The first Johnson & Johnson doses will arrive at the National Operations Centre. Its arrival in Canada follows the end of an 11-day pause in the U.S. as health officials looked into six cases of rare blood clots.
“We should expect to receive it next week,” said Henry. The vaccine is fridge stable and will give the province more flexibility “in targeting certain populations, particularly people who may be challenging to find for dose two,” she said.
AstraZeneca was offered to people 40 and older on the Island last week, but supply was quickly snapped up, and some of the supply was diverted to 13 hotspots in other parts of B.C.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization adjusted its age recommendation for the shots, announcing on Friday that Canadians 30 and older should be eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been used primarily for B.C.’s age-based immunization program which is now booking people age 60 and older and will invite people in their late 50s to begin booking Tuesday.
This week will mark the last in which Canada will receive fewer than two million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as the pharmaceutical giants prepare to ramp up deliveries for the foreseeable future.
Increased supplies of Pfizer in B.C. next week could mean offering a first dose for all who want it in B.C. earlier than the promised July 1 deadline.
Monday’s three-day weekend total at 2,491 remains high but is down from the previous weekend which was 2,960, including 108 in Island Health.
Restrictions on indoor social gatherings announced March 29 are having an impact on lessening the number of contacts people are having “no matter what context that was in” but indoor gatherings “primarily related to social connections in people’s homes” remain the main source of transmission, said Henry. “We’ve seen some impact of the measures that were put in place and that’s important, but I need to remind people that the indoor settings, when you have people over even with the best of intentions, those are risky settings right now and we’re bringing things home to our family, to our household, and it’s being transmitted to everybody in the household.”
On Monday, there were 8,199 active cases of COVID-19 in the province — down from 9,353 after last weekend.
Of the 8,199 active cases, 484 are in hospital, including 158 in critical or intensive care. In Island Health, 27 are in hospital including four in critical care.
Another 12,340 people in the province are under public health monitoring after having contact with a person who tested positive for the virus.
There were 881 people who tested positive for COVID-19 Friday to Saturday, 847 Saturday to Sunday, and 763 Sunday to Monday. Fraser Health had the highest number of new cases with 1,632, while Island Health, with 82, had the fewest.
The deaths over the weekend include two people older than 90, seven people in their 80s, five people in their 70s, two people in their 60s, and one person in their 50s.
Investigations into unexpected deaths by the B.C. Coroners Service have found 38 related to COVID-19 between March of last year and this year, said Henry. That includes an infant death in January in Interior Health at B.C. Children’s Hospital.
In Ontario, 13-year-old Emily Viegas, died last Thursday in her Brampton, Ont. home after her father, an essential warehouse worker, reportedly tried to care for her in the family apartment because he worried the overburdened local hospital would transfer her to a facility far from home.
People who do contact tracing in B.C. tell people in isolation that they can get care, call 911, and get to a hospital, said Henry.
There are eight outbreaks in long-term care in the province, including the Craigdarroch and Mount St. Mary seniors homes in Victoria, and seven in acute-care facilities, including Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
Almost 36 per cent of those eligible for a vaccine have received their first dose, Health Minister Adrian Dix said.
As of Monday, 1,635,372 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the province, 89,035 of which were second doses.
— With a file from The Canadian Press
> Vaccination information:
online at gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated
phone 1-833-838-2323, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
