B.C.’s minister of health said he was disappointed to hear there will be a delay in Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses this month.
“The federal government has said it will send additional doses of Pfizer in May and June. Doses in April would be more helpful, but we appreciate the ongoing effort and commitment of the federal government,” said Adrian Dix.
“Right now, Pfizer continues to be the workhorse of B.C.’s age-based vaccination program. It has the most reliable delivery schedule and we can properly prepare for its arrival.”
The province has administered 1,282,091 doses of the three COVID-19 vaccines, 87,970 of which are second doses, according to a joint statement by Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer.
Island Health reported another 39 COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases to 446. Of those, 150 are in the central island region, 256 are in the south island and 40 are in the north, according to Island Health. The BC CDC dashboard shows 23 people in hospital, including four in ICU. No new deaths were reported.
Island Health reported an additional case at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, where four patients have been infected in the high intensity rehab unit.
B.C. reported 1,005 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths since yesterday. There are now 10,081 active cases, including 425 people hospitalized with the virus, 127 of them in critical care, according to the BC CDC.
The province said it has identified a total of 5,739 variant of concern (VOC) cases, though only 212 are considered active. That includes 3,858 cases of the UK (B.1.1.7) variant, 71 cases of the South Africa (B.1.351) variant and 1,810 cases of the Brazil (P.1) variant.
Across B.C., 105,291 people have recovered from COVID-19, including 3,638 in Island Health. There are 15,877 people under active public health monitoring as a result of exposure to the virus.
