Group urges people to get fourth COVID vaccine dose, pushes for expansion of eligibility

A group of health experts and community advocates is urging people to get their fourth dose of a COVID vaccine when they are eligible and is pushing the provincial government to expand eligibility for booster doses.

The provincial government recently announced they were expanding eligibility of a second booster dose so that anyone who wants one can get a fourth booster dose six months after their first, but are encouraging people to wait until the fall.

“That is where we expect to be challenged again with COVID-19 and the need for people to get an extra dose in the fall, regardless of how many doses they’ve received so far,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix during a news conference on July 8.

However, Protect Our Province BC, a group of health care workers, health policy specialists and community advocates advocating for COVID protections, is calling for people to go get their fourth dose as soon as they are eligible.

“Our group is definitely recommending that anyone who can access a dose should get it now,” said Dr. Brenda Hardie, steering committee member with POP BC and a Vancouver-based family doctor in an interview with CHEK News.

“What we’re basing it on is that we are in a wave right now and it is expected to peak probably in August. But peak just means we still have half of the people who will still get infected in that wave typically for another one to two months.”

In B.C., the number of PCR confirmed COVID cases are once again on the rise.

Two weeks in a row, the BC CDC’s weekly COVID numbers revealed an increase in confirmed cases, with 973 confirmed between July 3 and July 9. This is 208 confirmed cases higher than the week before.

B.C. currently only reports numbers of people who test positive from a PCR test, and only immunocompromised people, people with high-risk conditions, people 70 or older, people who aren’t fully vaccinated, or people whose medical care may be affected by a positive result are eligible for PCR tests.

The province does not have a way for people to report rapid test results and does not include rapid test results in COVID updates.

On July 14, there were 426, up from the 369 the week before.

There were 211 people admitted to hospital in the week between the 3-9 and 22 people died, though the number of hospitalizations and deaths are conditional and subject to change.

The province updated on the number of hospital admissions and deaths between June 26 and July 2. Previously the province reported 24 people died, but updated the number to 34 deaths. And it reported 172 hospital admissions, which has been updated to 220.

The province has noted companies are working on vaccines that would provide protections against the current Omicron variant, which the vaccines currently available aren’t as effective against.

The province has not guaranteed that people who receive a fourth dose now will be eligible to receive a fifth dose in the fall, either of the current vaccines or the potential new ones.

“I think that has added another layer of there’s some FOMO going on if I got a vaccine now, the Health Minister has said I’m not allowed to get the new vaccine in the fall,” Hardie said.

“[The National Advisory Committee on Immunization] says you can get a booster dose as long as it’s been three months since your last vaccine of any type of COVID vaccine. So we don’t understand where this restriction is coming from, doesn’t appear to make any sense of the science that’s available at the moment.”

POP BC is pushing for the provincial government to assure people that if they get a fourth dose now, a fifth will be made available when the time comes.

“Our leaders must stop using a paternalistic and punitive approach to the fourth vaccine by saying ‘if you take it now, you can’t have the updated vaccine in the fall,'” POP BC said in an open letter to provincial health officials including Dix. “The choice should never be between being protected now and being protected later in the fall; it should be both.”

Hardie says she understands there are some getting tired of getting additional COVID vaccines, but that it is important to continue to get them in order to maintain immunity.

“The variants are different, two doses used to be a great protection, and that’s just not anymore, it’s three,” Hardie said. “So I agree, it’s less than ideal to have to be vaccinated every few months but right now, especially in B.C. with no other protections, it’s all we’ve got. If we had masks in public spaces, if we had clean air regulations and air filtration, we may not need to rely so heavily on just vaccines.”

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