B.C. Premier John Horgan is set to join Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix on Monday afternoon in an anticipated update on the province’s vaccination plan for COVID-19.
Also joining the press conference will be Dr. Ross Brown, who has been assigned to spearhead BC’s COVID-19 vaccine program.
The announcement is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. PT this afternoon and it will be available via live stream on both CHEK’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.
The rollout of B.C.’s vaccination plan comes on the same day that Health Canada officially approved a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
“Canadians can feel confident that the review process was rigorous and that we have strong monitoring systems in place. Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada will closely monitor the safety of the vaccine once it is on the market and will not hesitate to take action if any safety concerns are identified,” a statement from Health Canada said.
The news was announced on Wednesday morning and the federal government said Canada is set to receive 249,000 doses of the drug from the U.S. pharmaceutical giant and its German partner by the end of the month.
The first vaccine doses are just days away. About 4,000 high-risk people in BC will be immunized by end of next week.
Tomorrow, I'll be joined by Dr. Bonnie Henry & Health Minister @adriandix to update how an immunization program will help keep British Columbians healthy & safe.
— John Horgan (@jjhorgan) December 8, 2020
Premier Horgan has indicated that the first vaccine doses are only a few days away in British Columbia, suggesting around 4,000 high-risk people will be immunized by next week.
Dr. Henry believes that the province will achieve widespread immunization by September 2021.
Pfizer needs to store its vaccine at ultracold temperatures – below -70 C – and so the company is planning to ship the doses directly to provinces.
There are 14 sites in the 10 provinces that are now set up to receive the vaccines. Priority is to be given in most provinces to residents and workers in long-term care, front-line health workers, adults in Indigenous communities where an outbreak could be hard to manage, and seniors over the age of 80.
Canada is the second country in the world to greenlight the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The United Kingdom began inoculating people Tuesday after last week becoming the first to approve its use. The Food and Drug Administration in the United States said Tuesday it believed the vaccine was safe and effective. Regulators there are set to meet Thursday to decide whether to authorize it for emergency use.
The U.K. warned that two people had severe allergic reactions on the first day of vaccinations, an issue that had not arisen in clinical trials with more than 44,000 people. The reactions are being investigated and the U.K. has asked people who are prone to severe allergic reactions to not get the vaccine for now. The two patients are recovering well, according to British authorities.
Canada is set to receive four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine by March and 20 million in 2021. It has the chance to buy 56 million more doses but has not yet exercised that option.
Graham Cox
