Depending on who you talk to, BC's COVID booster program is either hunky-dory or waning badly.

"We've certainly seen a decline in uptake in the numbers of people getting boosters," said Liberal health critic Shirley Bond, the MLA for Prince George-Valemount.

"I don't want to speculate on people's reasons for not getting boosted, but I know people have been through two years of difficult times and the vast majority did what was expected of them in the pandemic (and received the first two vaccines to be considered fully vaxxed). Now that COVID is endemic, I think a lot of people are making that personal decision on whether or not to get a first or second booster."

Meantime, the BC Ministry of Health and the provincial NDP government are putting a different spin on it.

"Overall, the fall booster campaign is proceeding at a good pace and we are leveraging learnings, systems and innovations implemented earlier in the pandemic to roll out vaccines to people across the province as effectively and efficiently as possible," reads a statement sent on the request of NowMedia Group.

Figures from the Public Health Agency of Canada as of Oct. 9 show 85.7% of eligible British Columbians have received at least the first dose, 82.2% the second dose, 53.2% the first booster and 17% the second booster.

The BC Ministry of Health provided figures specifically for the second booster, which it's calling the fall booster because it can be combined with getting a flu shot.

Of the 3.8 million British Columbians eligible, 22% have received their fall booster.

Granted, we're in the midst of the fall booster campaign, so there are still a lot more people yet to book and get their jab.

However, the rate of adoption is slowing.

Proportionately, there can't be as much uptake for the second booster because only 53.2% have gotten their first booster and you need the first to get the second.

Naturally, there's going to be attrition as people move on with their lives believing they don't need the first and second boosters.

Some people have obviously said 'enough is enough' and decided not to continue with the third and fourth shots.

I was anxious to get my first and second shots to be considered fully vaxxed so I could protect myself and others, travel and get into restaurants and venues.

I was also keen to get the third shot, the first booster, in December of 2021.

However, by the time I received my invitation from the government to book the second booster on Sept. 21, I was in no hurry.

Like a lot of other people I knew the pandemic was now an endemic; that vax mandates to travel and get into restaurants and events were lifted; that further vaccination doesn't prevent you from catching or spreading the virus; and that the disease had weakened so that in most cases catching COVID was like catching the common cold.

Eventually, I did get my second booster, a month after the invitation to book, on Oct. 21, because I welcome any degree of added protection I can get.

That's exactly the sentiment the BC Ministry of Health is capitalizing on.

"We continue to encourage everyone to book an appointment to receive their fall booster, or whichever COVID-19 vaccine dose they are eligible for, and influenza vaccine to protect themselves, their families and their communities during the fall-winter respiratory season," said another part of the statement.

The latest Pfizer Comirnaty Bivalent booster vaccine may give more people reason to get the jab because it targets the original COVID virus and the latest and more transmissible  Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants.

Additional vaxxing means you might not get COVID or the flu, and if you do, it might not be as fierce.

Approximately 1,300 pharmacies and 120 health authority clinics around the province are giving COVID vaccine jabs.

Most are also offering the option to get your flu shot at the same.

The so-called 'co-administration' approach has been effective with 75% deciding to get both shots at once.