New Brunswick expands vaccination to children turning 12 this year; reports 15 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday

HALIFAX -

New Brunswick is reporting 15 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, along with 21 recoveries, as the total number of active infections in the province drops to 167.

Ten new cases were reported in the Moncton region (Zone 1) involving:

• four people aged 19 and under
• two people in their 20s
• three people in their 30s
• one person in their 40s

Seven cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases, two are travel related and one is under investigation.

Two new cases were reported in the Fredericton region (Zone 3), both involving people age 19 and under who were contacts of previously confirmed cases.

Three new cases were reported in the Miramichi region (Zone 7) involving:

• one person in their 60s
• one person in their 70s
• one person in their 80s

All three cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases.

There are currently three patients in hospital in New Brunswick due to COVID-19, with no one in an intensive care unit.

CHILDREN TURNING 12 NOW ELIGIBLE FOR VACCINES

New Brunswick also announced Tuesday that the province is expanding its COVID-19 vaccination eligibility to include children who are turning 12 this year.

“We know that there will continue to be cases in schools in the coming year,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy in a release.

“This change will help support healthy and safe schools by allowing a greater number of students to be vaccinated, particularly in schools with younger children. If you are eligible, please go get your shot and help protect our schools.”

With the change, number of New Brunswickers who are eligible to receive a vaccine has increased to 696,218 from the previous 693,386.

VACCINE UPDATE

As of Tuesday, 73.8 per cent of New Brunswickers age 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 83.8 per cent have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The province says due to the addition of nearly 3,000 children turning 12 this year to the eligible numbers, it may appear there has been a reduction in some of the province's vaccination rates.

In addition, the province says they discovered that 8,159 vaccinations, including about 7,800 second doses, were not recorded across all systems during a routine review. This issue has been rectified and is reflected in Tuesdays vaccination rates on the COVID-19 dashboard.

In total, 1,097,337 vaccine doses have been administered in New Brunswick.

If you have not yet had your first or second dose, you are encouraged to go to a mobile or walk-in clinic or to book an appointment through a participating pharmacy or at a Vitalité or Horizon Health Network clinic.

All eligible New Brunswickers can book their second dose appointments now for a date that is at least 28 days after their first dose.

If you have an appointment for a vaccine but were able to get vaccinated sooner elsewhere, please be sure to contact your pharmacy or regional health authority clinic to cancel the appointment you no longer need. This will help ensure that someone else in your community can obtain their vaccination sooner.

COVID-19 CASE DATA

New Brunswick has had 2,687 cumulative cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

In total, 2,473 people have recovered, and 46 people have died in the province from COVID-19.

Public health says 1,379 tests were completed in New Brunswick on Monday. A total of 401,531 tests have been processed since the start of the pandemic.

The number of cases are broken down by New Brunswick’s seven health zones:

• Zone 1 – Moncton region: 710 confirmed cases (97 active cases)
• Zone 2 – Saint John region: 329 confirmed cases (16 active cases)
• Zone 3 – Fredericton region: 494 confirmed cases (28 active cases)
• Zone 4 – Edmundston region: 757 confirmed cases (2 active case)
• Zone 5 – Campbellton region: 188 confirmed cases (no active cases)
• Zone 6 – Bathurst region: 146 confirmed cases (4 active cases)
• Zone 7 – Miramichi region: 63 confirmed cases (20 active cases)

POTENTIAL PUBLIC EXPOSURES

Anyone with symptoms of the virus, as well as anyone who has been at the site of a possible public exposure, is urged to request a test online or call Tele-Care at 811 to get an appointment.