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Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry held a news conference Tuesday to inform the public vaccines for COVID-19 and flu are now available while also answering questions about the fact she herself became a political issue during the provincial election campaign.
For the past month, Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad repeatedly stated he would terminate Henry’s contract for Henry’s policies during the COVID-19 public emergency, which spanned March 2020 to July 2024.
Rustad’s platform included ending vaccine mandates for health-care workers, a matter Henry maintained until July 26. Some of Rustad’s candidates, such as Paul Ratchford in Vancouver-Point Grey, had called for a criminal inquiry into Henry, labelling her a “tyrant.”
On Tuesday, Henry addressed the Conservative campaign.
“If a party decides that they would prefer somebody who is more aligned with them then that is their prerogative to do that. What is most important to me, and one of the things that I'm focusing on right now, is my role is to protect the health of everybody in British Columbia. That's why we're talking today, how important it is to do our best to get through this next respiratory season, and I'm going to continue to do that,” said Henry.
Whereas civil liberties were indeed curtailed during the pandemic under emergency laws, Henry was asked by Glacier Media what she thought about the criticism, in hindsight.
“You know, I think, and I said this before, that we're a little bit, that we're in a phase of collective forgetting, which is not uncommon after a major traumatic event. And all of us want this to be behind us and not have to think about this anymore,” said Henry.
“But I have done a lot of reflection about the things that we did to try and manage during times of great uncertainty, and I think we have to remember that we did what we did to try and find that balance.
“We know that there were harms caused by the virus, particularly for older people, for people who were immune-compromised.
“But we also know the impact of the measures that we put in place had differential negative effects on younger people, particularly, and I've talked about this many times, about the concerns … about young people in their late teens and early 20s and opportunities they missed.”
Henry was asked if her news conference and vaccine campaign was delayed due to the election.
“Not really.
“Yes, the official start of our public campaign was really last week, and there was a number of media events in local areas, particularly my [Medical Health Officer] colleagues around the province and I wanted to add my voice to that.”
Henry urges British Columbians to get COVID-19 and flu shots
With that said, Henry reiterated the COVID-19 and flu season is upon us and now is the time to start washing your hands routinely and stay home if you feel unwell.
Henry said the flu and RSV are at low levels but COVID-19 hospitalizations have shown a recent uptick.
“SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater remain high at many sites. Hospital admission rates are elevated and stabilizing, and below 2023/24 rates for this time,” notes the BC CDC Oct. 17 weekly update.
The COVID-19 vaccine was only available in “late September/early October,” said Henry.
Invitations for “priority populations” to book vaccinations started in early October, said Henry.
In opening week, 141,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses and 228,000 flu doses had been given, said Henry.
“We continue inviting people to book their appointments in order by age,” she said.
“If you've had COVID recently, you’ve had a boost to your immunity. So that's a good thing. I know many people — I am many people — who have had COVID recently, and so my advice to you is to wait a few months. You don't need an additional vaccine right now, that infection gives you a boost to your immunity that lasts for several months,” said Henry.
Henry was asked about long COVID, saying it’s a matter health officials continue to learn about.
“Things that we do know is there's so many different symptoms that people have, the most common being neurological, which is brain fog, having difficulty concentrating, profound fatigue. And we do know that things like moderated exercise and other measures seem to help. There's not been great success in medications that seem to make a difference with people with long COVID yet,” said Henry, adding B.C. has no long COVID clinic anymore aside from an “online clinic.”
