Skip to content

COVID vaccine to roll out to health-care workers across B.C. by next week

B.C. has received 4,900 of the first batch of doses to be distributed across the country
23634474_web1_23629442-ebf0da63780d4d9194726ed890d48ab0
University of Washington Medical Center Pharmacy Manager Christine Meyer puts a tray of doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine into the deep freeze after the vaccine arrived at the University of Washington Medical Center’s Montlake campus Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in Seattle. (Mike Siegel/The Seattle Times via AP, Pool)

By Tuesday evening, a number of B.C. health-care workers will make history and join the first thousands of Canadians to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

As the province tops 42,000 test-positive cases since January, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced Monday (Dec. 14) that the first batch of 4,900 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine will first be offered to health-care workers in the Lower Mainland – where the lion’s share of cases have emerged this year.

By next week, the vaccine will be available to those on the front lines of the pandemic in each region of the province.

“It’s the first step in our path to protecting people most at risk in our communities and taking the pressure off our health-care system, so that care is available for all of us,” Henry said during a news conference where she also announced 2,146 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 49 deaths over the weekend.

B.C. aims to have 400,000 people vaccinated by the end of March, or roughly 10 per cent of the province’s population.

READ MORE: 2,146 new COVID-19 cases in B.C. since Friday, 49 deaths


@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Want to support local journalism? Make a donation here.