B.C.’s public health authority has updated its COVID-19 dashboard to include immunization coverage for local health areas (LHA) for the province’s youngest residents.
LHA data for children between the ages of six months and four years is now available through the dashboard, a BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) spokesperson told Coast Reporter in a Nov. 3 email.
As of Oct. 30, 15 per cent of children within that age group in the Sunshine Coast LHA have received their first dose, compared with 13 per cent in the Howe Sound LHA and 10 per cent in Powell River.
At 33 per cent,the Central Coast has the largest coverage percentage within Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), followed by Midtown Vancouver at 27 per cent.
Five COVID-19 vaccination clinics were held in late October on the Sunshine Coast for infants and young children.
While the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) added vaccination coverage data for children under five years old starting Oct. 6, that information was only available by regional health authority, not by local health area (LHA), such as the Sunshine Coast LHA.
LHA vaccination coverage data is now available for all age groups.
In a Nov. 1 email, a BCCDC spokesperson said the organization was “continuing to work on the dashboard and will look into adding the data by Local Health Areas.”
In response to a similar request, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) deferred to BCCDC because coverage is reported provincially.
The health authority did not provide specific coverage targets for the age groups at the October clinics held on the Coast over the last two weeks. “Our goal is to achieve the highest vaccination coverage possible by offering many opportunities for people to get vaccinated - through community pharmacies and VCH-operated clinics,” said VCH spokesperson Rachel Galligan in an email.
Infants older than six months and children under four years old have been eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines since August, after Health Canada approved a two-dose Moderna vaccine. An approved Pfizer vaccine is also available, requiring three doses.
Regionally, one-dose vaccination coverage for children between six months and four years in the VCH area was 17 per cent as of Oct. 23.
The provincial average was 11 per cent. The lowest coverage area was Northern Health with a rate of seven per cent.
First-dose vaccination coverage for children aged five to 11 in the Sunshine Coast LHA is 53 per cent as of Oct. 23. Powell River stood at 43 per cent and Howe Sound, which includes Squamish and Whistler, had 56 per cent coverage.
The highest coverage among local health areas in the south coast of B.C. was North Vancouver, at 71 per cent.
Up-to-date immunization records unavailable for school-aged children
Up-to-date immunization coverage data is also missing from VCH’s School Immunization Coverage Dashboard and from BCCDC’s province-wide dashboard.
The latest data available is for the 2018/2019 school year.
In an Oct. 28 email, VCH told Coast Reporter work is still under way to “review, collate and validate immunization records for school-aged children for recent school years” and that updated immunization coverage data will be made available once Public Health completes its review.
Regular school-based immunization programs were suspended from spring 2020 to early 2021 because of COVID-19, which affected data reporting. Starting fall 2021, VCH began a catch-up program to vaccinate affected children. The program continues.
Immunizations for infants and toddlers persisted throughout the pandemic.
While the data remains unavailable, VCH said the “majority of [school-aged] children who missed their immunizations during the pandemic have been caught up by Public Health.”
Coast sees dip in COVID-19 vaccine coverage among younger adults
Third-dose coverage rates among younger adults remains far lower on the Sunshine Coast than first-dose rates.
As of Oct. 23, 41 per cent of adults between the ages of 18 and 49 have received a third dose. For adults 50 years old and older, coverage increased to 79 per cent.
Last fall, 79 per cent of adults between the ages of 18 and 49 received a second dose and 90 per cent of people in the 50 years-and-over age group received a second dose.
Fall booster shot clinics were also available for adults on the Sunshine Coast in late October.
- With files from Keili Bartlett
