B.C. to offer COVID-19 booster for people 12 and older starting this fall

VANCOUVER – COVID-19 booster shots will be available to British Columbians aged 12 and over starting this fall.

Dr. Penny Ballem, the lead on B.C.’s COVID-19 immunization plan, says invitations will start going out Monday for those most vulnerable aged 65 and older.

She says the advantage of getting the shot this fall is that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines coming are expected to be more tailor-made to fight Omicron variants.

Up to now, B.C. has been offering second booster shots for people 70 years and older and Indigenous people 55 years and older.

Ballem says they also hope to get approval by the end of July to give children aged six months to four years their vaccinations, but that still needs regulatory approval.

Acting provincial health officer Dr. Martin Lavoie says the latest wave of the Omicron variant BA.5 is increasing hospitalizations and the fall booster of mRNA vaccines will be more adaptive to fighting that variant.

READ MORE: B.C.’s confirmed COVID-19 cases on the rise with 765 cases in one week

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