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

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.

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