By Canadian Press

Single COVID-19 vaccine dose reduces risk of virus by 80 per cent: B.C. health agency

Feb 19, 2021 | 11:13 AM

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control says new preliminary data shows that a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine reduces the risk of the virus by 80 per cent within two to three weeks of receiving the shot.

The agency says in a statement that research led by Dr. Danuta Skowronski, the head of its influenza and emerging respiratory pathogens team, came to the conclusion after analyzing COVID-19 cases in long-term care homes.

Researchers studied cases between December 2020 and February 2021, seeing a drop in cases starting at about 14 days after vaccination as well as a reduction in hospitalizations and deaths.

Skowronski says the results are promising and reinforce the benefit of receiving a vaccine.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said earlier this week that while B.C. has seen delays in deliveries of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, she is confident the gap between doses can be safely extended to up to three months if necessary.

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B.C. has administered over 180,000 doses of vaccine as of Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2021.

The Canadian Press