Province ramps up rollout; nearly 12,000 immunized over past two weeks
It would take a `Herculean effort' to get 400,000 people immunized by March 1
The province is ramping up its COVID-19 vaccine delivery, Dr. Bonnie Henry said on Tuesday at her first news conference since Dec. 23.
Nearly 12,000 people in B.C. have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine since the first dose was administered Dec. 15 to health care worker Nisha Yunus.
The 11,930 doses were delivered across all five health regions in B.C. Two recipients experienced allergic reactions — something Henry said wasn't unexpected. Both were successfully treated and have fully recovered.
Henry said that the first Moderna vaccine, which was approved by Health Canada on Dec. 23, has already arrived in B.C., with more expected Dec. 30. Those doses are slated for a number of remote and isolated First Nations communities, as well as some long-term care homes in smaller centres in the north, the Interior and parts of Vancouver Island's health authorities.
She said it would take a “Herculean effort” to get 400,000 people immunized by March 1.
The Moderna vaccine is easier to store than the Pfizer one, which must be stored at -70 C, but Henry said the province has the ability to transport small amounts of the Pfizer vaccine safely, and has already moved some of it to remote and northern communities.
In response to criticism that the vaccine rollout was flawed because some vaccination clinics closed or reduced their hours over the Christmas holiday week, Henry said much of the time over the past weekend when clinics were closed was used for training, logistics and planning for delivery of the Moderna vaccine.
“We have done a lot of immunizations over the last week. One of the things we are learning is that this vaccine is fussy — both of them. It's not a simple thing to use the Pfizer vaccine,” she said.
Henry said the province isn't holding back any vaccine in anticipation of the two-dose requirement, but will administer all the vaccine they have as it arrives: “We can do that and protect almost twice as many people than if we started giving the second dose in the short time frame.”
Henry said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization allows for an extended schedule for administration of the followup dose, and that she has confidence that enough vaccine will arrive by February for second doses to begin.
“For some people it will be about 35 days, for some people that means an extra week and we have good data to support that immunity is still very protective for that short window,” she said.
Henry called accusations levelled recently by the B.C. Nurses' Union that some health care administrators had jumped the queue to receive the vaccine “unfortunate.”
“We are rolling this out to people who have been designated. Our focus as we have said from the very beginning is protecting those who are most at risk, our elders and seniors in long-term care, and workers in long-term care, and acute-care health care workers, particularly in ICU, and that is what the focus has been,” she said.
Henry said some people in administrative roles are among those who go in and manage outbreaks in long-term care homes: “They need to be protected so that when they go into those outbreak situations they are not bringing the virus with them as well.”
To date, 29,000 Pfizer doses have arrived in B.C., 3,800 people received vaccines in Week 1 of the rollout, 8,000 the second week and up to 20,000 will be vaccinated by the end of next week.