S. Interior below average for vaccinations, while leading province in COVID cases

A significant disparity in COVID-19 vaccination levels continues to exist throughout the Central Okanagan.

The highest rate, at 80% of all adults, is in Kelowna’s Okanagan Mission neighbourhood, which is considered to be all neighbourhoods south of Mission Creek.

The lowest rate, at 69%, is in Rutland. All other areas of the Central Okanagan are below, by a few percentage points, the provincial adult vaccination rate of 80.9% that was announced Monday.

Vernon’s rate is 74% and Penticton’s rate is 78%.

Most areas of the B.C. Southern Interior have lower vaccination rates than the provincial average. And the region served by Interior Health continues to experience a disproportionately higher number of new COVID-19 cases.

Between last Friday and Monday, 156 new cases were confirmed provincewide, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control says.

Of the new cases, 37% were in the IH region. However, the area accounts for just 15% of B.C.’s total population.

Since Friday, there have been twice as many new cases of COVID-19 in Interior Health as in Vancouver Coastal Health, which has a quarter-million more people than the IH region.

Across the province, 56.6% of all adults have received the necessary two shots of vaccine.

Of the 653 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., almost 30% are in the Interior Health region.