Vaccine clinic hopping at CSFS

Dec 3, 2021 | 3:40 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Carrier Sekani Family Services’ office was hopping today, as it was offering a free, walk-in vaccine clinic for first, second and third doses of the COVID vaccine as well as the booster shot.

So what’s the difference between the third shot and a booster shot, which for many people would be their third shot?

“The third dose is required in patients who are moderately to severely immuno-compromised,” explains Albert Wu, a third-year pharmacy student from UBC who is setting up the vaccines. “Those patients, for one reason or another, their immune system does not respond to the first two doses that a healthy individual normally would be able to build a natural response to.”

The booster shot is for healthy folks who have had their first two shots, and is administered six months after their second shot. It serves as a wake-up call to the immune system to remind it to keep producing the antibodies for COVID.

Northern Health is currently holding a clinic in the House of Ancestors from Wednesday to Saturday, by appointment, for those ages 12 and up. Only those people looking to get their first dose as allowed to drop in.