WELCOME SHOTS IN THE ARM
Vaccine bookings get underway today
Health authorities in B.C. are establishing vaccine clinic sites and have been hiring phone agents to begin taking appointments today for the first time for the COVID -19 vaccine.
Until now, the limited supply of vaccine in the province has been targeted at front-line health care workers, long-term care home residents and staff, and Indigenous people in remote communities.
The booking of appointments today marks the start of a rollout to the general population.
The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has posted on its website nearly two dozen vaccination clinics, including hours and addresses, that cover communities in Metro Vancouver, along the Sea to Sky corridor and on the Sunshine and Central coasts. Included among the locations are community centres, COVID-19 testing sites, Royal Canadian Legion branches, and Richmond's River Rock Casino.
Vancouver Island Health has sports and community centres, hospitals and an arena among its 19 listed vaccination clinic locations, and Northern Health officials have posted clinic locations in schools, hospitals, recreation and community centres in about two dozen communities.
Interior Health has posted four dozen clinic locations in nearly as many communities. Among the venues are curling rinks, hospitals, community halls, a church and a band office.
Fraser Health has listed specific clinic locations in about a dozen communities on their website through their online booking system, including in Surrey, Langley and Hope. The vaccine clinic sites are mainly at hospitals and existing COVID-19 testing sites.
Victoria Lee, the president and CEO of Fraser Health, told reporters during a news conference Sunday that the authority had enlisted some 500 volunteer physicians and hundreds more students and pharmacists to assist in the immunization effort. Those volunteers are in addition to those who have been hired to vaccinate on a fulltime basis.
Lee said Fraser Health has the capacity to immunize up to 9,000 people a day, and it plans to ramp up to 20,000 a day as the province's immunization program expands.
All five health authorities in B.C. will use a phone-in system. People 90-and-over can begin booking appointments on March 8 for a March 15 start. Indigenous people age 65 and over will also be able to begin booking appointments.
All health authority websites say that when people book appointments they'll be given a clinic location.
Vancouver Island Health spokesman Andrew Leyne said they have contracted 35 Telus phone agents to assist 10 to 15 Island Health phone agents to answer booking calls. The agents will take calls 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, Leyne said in a written response.
Other health authorities didn't answer questions on how they would ensure they could handle calls, including how many people would be available to answer phones and book appointments.
In the following two weeks, those 85-and-over and those 80-and-over will also be able to book appointments.
Those aged 80-and-over and Indigenous people 65-and-over not in care homes comprise about 240,000 British Columbians, among 4.3 million people who the province hopes to vaccinate by the end of September.
This first rollout to the public will be a test of the phone booking system and of the clinic locations.
Karen Bloemink, the vice-president of pandemic response at Interior Health, said it was important to remember that while the phone lines open Monday, B.C. is still only in the first few months of a lengthy vaccination effort.
“Immunizations will continue to be available to people in British Columbia for weeks and months to come. So we'd like to reassure everyone that they should not worry they'll miss their chance to receive a vaccine,” Bloemink said.
She said the authority anticipated many calls in the first few days and asked for people to be patient and stick to the call-in schedule.
Unlike other jurisdictions, including Alberta and Washington state, in B.C. only the Fraser Health Authority has set up an option to book an appointment online.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix is confident the province will be able to handle the ramped-up rollout to the public. He noted last week the health authorities organize immunization clinics every year for childhood diseases and for influenza.