Monday May 17, 2021 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | Island Social Trends
All the vaccines presently being administered in BC (Pfizer, Moderna and Astra Zeneca) are effective against the variant strains of COVID-19 that are presently being found in test-positive cases.
Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry declared that so today during her 3 pm COVID media teleconference that she shares with Health Minister Adrian Dix.
“Here in BC … the vaccines we have are working to protect against everything that’s circulating in BC right now,” she said in a response to a question from Island Social Trends as to whether she can give some level of assurance to vaccine recipients that they will be effectively protected through the next months or remainder of this year.
BC’s own vaccine effectiveness data is coming in Dr Henry’s next live media briefing on Thursday May 20, as being pulled together by the BC Centre for Disease Control, she revealed today.
Meanwhile, looking at data from other countries: “We know from the UK that both AstraZeneca and Pfizer are very effective in the real world, against B.1.1.7,” which she reminded is the predominant strain in the UK “and we’ve seen that here as well”.
There is also real-world evidence in the data from “the whole of community approach that we took in Whistler, where the dominant strain being transmitted there was P1 (as first seen in Brazil) — we’ve seen rates drop off and stay down”, she said in response to Island Social Trends. “That’s how we know in the real world that this vaccine is working well against the strain that was causing the outbreak that was in Whistler.”
“Those are the things we’re looking at as we go. Right now we don’t have a lot of many other strains that are causing illness. So it’s hard to tell just from data we have here. There have been some concerns with the effectiveness of some of the vaccine against the B.1.351 (South African variant) but we haven’t seen a lot of that here,” Dr Henry outlined. “We had a bit of a blip where there was some introduction, but as we’ve controlled the transmission it sort of faded away.”
Get both doses, says BC’s top doctor:
To date, 55% of eligible adults in BC (age 18+) have received a first dose, but only 3% have received a second dose. Getting two doses (the primer and the booster) is considered to be full immunization, based on trials by the manufacturers as well as real-world data.
What if people stop short at getting just one dose, which could have as much as 80% or more protection, asked Island Social Trends today.
“We thought about that a lot globally as well as across this country, and really the best protection for everybody is to have that longer lasting effect,” Dr Henry responded. “That is the thing about the booster dose. Not only does it give you better shorter term protection, your antibody protection. But we think it gives you a more durable and longer-lasting protection.“
Today Health Minister Adrian Dix continued urging people to get vaccinated. Everyone age 18+ can now book an appointment.
Trajectory of the pandemic in BC:
“It is the booster that is going to see us through the next year. We don’t yet know of course because the vaccine has only been available for a matter of months yet, (as to) how long the single dose protection lasts. But we absolutely do know that getting a booster dose will give a longer lasting protection,” was Dr Henry’s declaration today. “So it is an important part of the program right now.”
Meanwhile, she adds: “The most important thing with the amount of transmission that we have is to get the first doses into as many people as possible.”
“Delaying the second dose — or as we have, increasing the interval, we’re likely to have a stronger, and longer-lasting impact. And that will take us through next year,” says Dr Henry.
She looks ahead at COVID being around for years but eventually containing it to small outbreaks or exposures. “This virus will be with us for years. But how it impacts will be different than how it affects us right now,” said Dr Henry, outlining that it might still occur due to gatherings and in schools.
People will still need to then wear masks and rapid tests will be available. This sort of planning is already in the works, she revealed today. By fall she said we “may not be in a pandemic anymore but that we will be able to manage (this) in our lives”.
