VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Nearly 15,000 British Columbians have now booked a date to be immunized against COVID-19, but only 369 of those people are in the Vancouver Coastal region.
According to data from the province, the populous region that includes Vancouver, Whistler, Richmond, and the North Shore lags far behind all others in the province when it comes to how many people successfully signed up to get a shot.
“Vancouver Coastal Health had some problems early in the day and we have worked throughout the day to address those problems and will continue working with them tomorrow to get their bookings back on track,” reads a statement from the Ministry of Health.
In contrast, the neighboring Fraser Health region saw 8,722 appointments booked. The Northern Health Authority, which has about a quarter of the population of Vancouver Coastal, registered 1,007.
At the close of call centres today their were 14,949 #COVID19 vaccines booked.
VIHA – 2,395
FHA – 8,722
IHA – 2,456
VCHA – 369
NHA – 1,007— Adrian Dix (@adriandix) March 9, 2021
Booking lines opened Monday at 7 a.m. and were immediately flooded.
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Health Minister Adrian Dix said about 1.7 million phone calls were received before 10 a.m, despite only around 80,000 people being eligible for the first round of B.C.’s broader vaccination efforts.
“There are about 47,000 people 90 and above in B.C. and they’re the eligible group, and there’s another 35,000 Indigenous people over the age of 65, so those are the two eligible groups,” said Dix, noting a significant number of people within these age groups have already gotten a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I very much appreciate the enthusiasm of everybody calling in, but I would ask that people allow those who are eligible this week to book appointments to have priority.”
With files from Liza Yuzda
