The schedule at the Smithers COVID-19 vaccination clinic continues to accelerate.
Northern Health is now accepting bookings for all community members born in 1991 and earlier (30+ years of age).
This comes as the number of new cases of the disease in B.C. and the North, in particular, has been dropping steadily, a result of the combination of public health measures and increased immunization, according to Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer.
Today, he B.C. Centre for Disease Control is reporting just 14 new cases in the Northern Health region down from a peak of 92 at the end of March. The province as a whole has also seen a marked decrease in spread of the virus with a seven-day rolling average of only 750 as of Monday compared to more than 1,100 three weeks ago.
To date, the province has administered almost 2 million doses of the three vaccines currently in circulation. There are approximately 4.2 million adults in B.C. and Henry is now predicting all will have access to at least a first dose of a vaccine by the middle of June.
Meanwhile, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved for children aged 12 - 15 years. Alberta was first out of the gate to announce it would start offering vaccinations to children starting on Monday (May 10).
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