National Post (National Edition)
B.C. eyes April for mass vaccine start
VANCOUVER • British Columbia’s oldest residents will be able to pre-register for COVID-19 vaccinations starting in March after the most vulnerable groups have been immunized under a plan announced Friday.
Premier John Horgan said “unprecedented hardship” and grief have continued a year after Canada’s first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in B.C., though the rollout of a vaccine strategy means 100,000 people have been vaccinated in the province so far.
“We have a long, long way to go,” he said, adding public health guidelines such as wearing a mask and physical distancing still must be followed while the mass vaccine campaign begins in April.
The aim is to immunize 4.3 million residents aged 18 and over by the end of September.
People who register for the plan will get a reminder to book appointments when eligible, but provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said timelines for vaccination will depend on available doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines as others are expected to be approved by the federal government.
Residents of long-term care homes, health-care workers who look after them, as well as essential visitors are among those who are currently being vaccinated.
They will be followed in February and March by more residents of Indigenous communities, those who are 80 and over and Indigenous seniors over 65.
Seniors aged 75 to 79 are expected to be vaccinated starting in April as part of the pre-registration strategy that will then move on to younger people in five-year age groupings.
Those in the 70-to-74 age group will follow, along with people with severe health conditions that put them at high risk for infection.
Henry said those vulnerable populations include people who have had an organ transplant, patients with specific cancers and respiratory conditions including severe asthma, and pregnant women with significant heart disease.
Second doses will be administered about 35 days later as part of the plan, which will be rolled out in 172 communities.
Henry said vaccines will be given in facilities including school gyms, arenas and mobile clinics, as well as home visits for those who are unable to attend a clinic as B.C. calls on volunteers for support.
Everyone vaccinated will get a record of their immunization and a reminder of their second dose, about 35 days after the first shot.
While people with chronic illnesses have called for early vaccination, Henry said scientific evidence from around the world supports the province’s age-based approach because older populations are at much higher risk of infection and death from COVID-19.
“We know that adults older than 60 have at least a five times increased risk of hospitalization and death compared with those less than 45 years of age and in particular, people over 80 have double the mortality risk of even those in the 60to 65-year age group.”
The message is the same for essential workers such as grocery-store employees as well as police and correctional officers, Henry said, adding the approval of more vaccines may mean the province’s plan could be revised to vaccinate those groups between April and June.
Youth who are 17 and under will not be vaccinated because the current vaccines have not been approved for them, she said, adding everyone who is eligible should get immunized in order to create so-called community immunity.