Note: This story was updated at 8:15 a.m. Nov. 19 to reflect the approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children.
Can New Westminster continue to move the needle on COVID-19 vaccination?
As of Nov. 16, 90% of eligible New West residents (aged 12+) had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine – the same as the previous week. The one-dose vaccination rate, too, remained stable at 93%.
But there are signs the city's vaccination rate may not have stalled out completely.
Among first doses, the vaccination rate for those aged 50 and up moved up by one percentage point, from 91% to 92%. Rates for the 12-to-17 age group and the 18-to-49 age group remained stable, at 91% and 95%, respectively.
The second-dose rate for 12-to-17-year-olds also inched upwards, from 85% to 86%, while the second-dose rate for 18-to-49-year-olds crept from 90% to 91%.
Those numbers are all from the latest B.C. Centre for Disease Control data.
The BCCDC is now also reporting vaccination rates for third doses, which are now being given out to higher-risk groups (including people aged 70+, Indigenous people and those considered clinically extremely vulnerable).
As of Nov. 16, just 5% of New Westminster's total eligible population had received a third dose. Not surprisingly, most of those people fall into older age groups. While the rate for 12-to-17-year-olds stands at 0% and the rate among 18-to-49-year-olds is 2%, the third-dose rate for those aged 50+ is now at 9%, up from 6% last week.
No one under the age of 12 has yet been vaccinated, but Health Canada has just announced approval for the Pfizer vaccine for 5-to-11-year-olds. B.C. is expected to announce details next week of how that will roll out.
Vaccination rates in New Westminster as of Nov. 16
First doses (previous week's total in brackets)
12+: 93% (93%)
12-17: 91% (91%)
18+: 94% (93%)
18-49: 95% (95%)
50+: 92% (91%)
Second doses:
12+: 90% (90%)
12-17: 86% (85%)
18+: 90% (90%)
18-49: 91% (90%)
50+: 89% (89%)
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected].
