B.C. will begin accepting appointments for COVID-19 vaccines for people over the age of 90 and Indigenous people over the age of 65 on Monday.
On Sunday, health authorities around the province unveiled region-specific details on how to make those appointments. The qualified seniors will begin to get their shots March 15.
Some health authorities are taking appointments by phone only while others will also use an online portal. Friends and family members of people signing up for bookings are urged to help them if they may have difficulties with the process.
When making a booking, callers will need to have their legal name, date of birth, postal code and personal health number on hand.
They’re also asked to have their own contact information handy, along with a pen and paper to write information on.
This phase of vaccinations (Phase 2) will only be for the first dose, likely of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and people will not be able to choose which vaccine they get.
People will be contacted when they are eligible to receive the second dose.
Here’s how the plan will roll out in B.C.’s five health authorities.
Fraser Health
B.C.’s most populous health region will operate 22 vaccination clinics across the region, five of which will be drive-through. It will also operate a mobile vaccine distribution for people who require home support.
Fraser Health president and CEO Dr. Victoria Lee said the officials expect to be able to administer up to 9,000 vaccines a day. That capacity is expected to climb to more than 23,000 vaccinations per day by Phase 3 of the vaccine rollout.
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Vancouver Coastal Health
Vancouver Coastal Health will operate 25 COVID-19 vaccine clinics across the region, using community centres, friendship centres, seniors centres, cultural centres and other regional sites.
Starting Monday, seniors over the age of 90 who live in Richmond, Vancouver, North Vancouver and West Vancouver will be able to phone in to book an appointment.
Seniors who live on the Sunshine Coast, in Powell River, Whistler, Squamish or Pemberton who are over the age of 80 will also be able to call in on Monday.
Indigenous seniors 65-years-old or older can also book appointments starting Monday.
“We are hopeful that people will be patient if they aren’t able to get through,” Bob Chapman, Vancouver Coastal health Interim vice-president for the Vancouver community, told Global News.
“We know there is lots of excitement about being able to get vaccines and we know there is also anticipation, so people will probably be anxious to call right away. We are asking people if they get a message that they are being asked to please call back to have some patients and call back a little bit later in the day.”
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Clinics will open March 15 and offer shots seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with evening bookings available in some locations.
Dedicated sites have also been designated for Indigenous peoples, that will offer vaccines in a culturally safe environment.
The health authority says about 30 small or remote communities that don’t have a clinic listed will be vaccinated in a “whole community” approach, which may see all adults living there given the opportunity for a shot during a single visit.
If that whole-community clinic isn’t scheduled before April 12, seniors over the age of 80 will be able to get vaccinated earlier and are advised to call the hotline below during the week their age group is eligible to make a booking.
The health authority said it tried to ensure that in urban areas, travel time to the clinics was no more than 15 minutes, and to keep them near transit and transportation routes.
Vaccines will also be offered at some Friendship Centres, including in Vitoria, Port Hardy and Port Alberni, with a focus on ensuring Indigenous people can get immunized in a culturally safe environment.
Island Health is not offering online bookings.
Seniors aged 90 and up, or Indigenous seniors aged 65 and over will be able to make an appointment from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week at 1-833-348-4787.
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Northern Health
Northern Health will operate 30 vaccine clinics across northern and central British Columbia and aims to immunize 15,000 people by April 10. New mass clinics are scheduled to open mid-April.
Locations for the Phase 2 clinics will include health-care facilities, schools, colleges and conference and events centres.
Bookings will open for seniors over the age of 90 or Indigenous seniors over the age of 65 at 7 a.m. Monday.
In some communities, the age bracket will expand on March 10, while eligibility and directions may vary for other communities due to the complexity of northern geography.
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
