During a press conference today from B.C.’s health officials, Dr. Bonnie Henry provided a little more insight into the province’s strategy for distributing a COVID-19 vaccine
Her vaccine information comes after an additional 12 deaths in British Columbia were announced – all occurring in long-term care facilities.
Dr. Henry, BC’s Provincial Health Officer, talked about the arrival of a vaccine and says there will be more details next week regarding “Operation Immunize.”
“We know that we will have limited amounts at first. So we won’t be able to broadly achieve what we’ve been calling community immunity, or herd immunity right off the bat, but that will come,” Dr. Henry said during today’s conference.
The first to receive the vaccine in January will be seniors, targeting those in long-term care facilities, and also vaccinating people most at risk from severe illness, and potentially dying as a result of contracting the disease, according to the provincial health officer.
“Our first priority will be to make sure that we are protecting those who are most at risk. We know that is the seniors and elders in our communities and long-term care homes. particularly and in hospitals here in British Columbia,” Dr. Henry said.
For the rest of British Columbia, however, the timeline will be much longer.
Dr. Henry is predicting that most residents have received the vaccine by September 2021.
“Once we have more vaccine available, we will be making it available to all of us here in BC. And that is when we can get to that point of managing and controlling this pandemic,” she noted
Dr. Henry says supplies will be limited at first when the vaccine arrives in Canada, but the priority is to protect those most at risk.
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Mary Griffin
