B.C.’s top doctor says get vaccinated to protect children as school starts

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s top doctor is encouraging everyone connected with children under 12 to get vaccinated as the school year begins next week.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says about 600,000 kids in that age range are not eligible for vaccination in B.C., and rising cases in the United States are directly linked to low immunization rates in the community.

She says COVID-19 cases among young children in the province have risen only slightly and very few of them have been hospitalized, but everyone from parents to school staff and bus drivers should be fully vaccinated.

Henry says overall COVID-19 cases are expected to go up soon and breakthrough infections among the elderly, especially in long-term care facilities, are due to unvaccinated people bringing COVID-19 into those high-risk settings.