FREDERICTON — New Brunswick will offer COVID-19 vaccine boosters to seniors in long-term care starting in October, following guidance from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, chief medical officer Dr. Jennifer Russell said Wednesday.

The plan is to give seniors who have already received two mRNA doses the booster shot during the annual influenza vaccine campaign, she said.

Addressing the rise in COVID-19 cases in the province, Russell said the government won't remove restrictions until the strain is lifted from the health-care system.

"These decisions that we have made during every turn of the pandemic are based on science and evidence," she said. "We must strike an appropriate balance in the measures we use.

"When the pressure on our hospitals has been reduced, we will be able to once again … relax the most restrictive measures."

New Brunswick reported 84 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and its 57th death related to COVID-19. New Brunswick has 657 active reported infections and 40 people in hospital with the disease, including 16 in intensive care.

Officials said 79.8 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers were fully vaccinated and about 89 per cent have received at least one shot.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press