IH urges vaccinated individuals to follow health protocols amid increase of variants of concern

KAMLOOPS — More than 36,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Kamloops to date. As more people get their shots, Interior Health is reminding those vaccinated to stay vigilant.

Most of the vaccine doses given out in Kamloops have been the first dose, with just over 2,000 people receiving their second doses.

Medical Health Officer Dr. Carol Fenton says vaccines are highly effective against hospitalization and death, but vaccinated individuals can still transmit the virus.

“More and more lately, the infections that we’re seeing in B.C. are of the variant type,” she said, “which means that we’re still seeing really good protection against hospitalization and death with the vaccine, but we are seeing less effectiveness against the infections. The likelihood that someone could get a bit of the sniffles or have a bit of a fever and then pass that infection off onto someone else is more likely with these variants.”

Fenton says the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, were considered around 90 per cent effective at preventing infection prior to the emergence of variants of concern.

AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines are around 60-to-70 per cent effective against infection, but they were tested after the variants emerged.

“When you compare the numbers, when you just put them together, you’re not realizing that they were done at different times against different variants, it can look like AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson are less effective,” Fenton said. “But really, they’re both 100 per cent effective against hospitalization and death but we’re seeing that effect of the variants emerging. So, I expect, and we will watch for the data, that the similar pattern will apply to the mRNA vaccines as well.”

Interior Health is also reminding vaccinated individuals that it takes two to three weeks for the body’s immune response to build up after receiving a dose and people can still become ill if exposed in that period of time.