Image Credit: Adam Donnelly / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

VACCINATION PLANS

McArthur Island and TCC to be used for future mass vaccination clinics

Mar 2, 2021 | 1:04 PM

KAMLOOPS — Mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics won’t be happening for some time, but the City of Kamloops will be ready when the time comes.

Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian says preliminary plans have been made with Interior Health to use the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre and the Tournament Capital Centre for mass vaccination clinics.

While this means some areas of the facilities won’t be available for recreational use, Christian says the bigger priority is making sure residents who want the vaccine, have access to it.

“These are mass clinics. We’ve never had an undertaking like this before, and kudos to science and to the public health officials that we are at a stage now where we can actually vaccinate our population – that’s the good news,” he says. “The logistics is a bit trickier.”

Question of the Week

Have you already made an appointment to get your winter tires on?

1h ago

The Tattle of Hastings

THE TATTLE OF HASTINGS: Hall of Rust Valley Restorers unveils dream car, talks of build for father, sings of Kamloops roots

6h ago

BC Votes

STREAMING: Kamloops All-Candidates Forums

Sep 30, 2024

The details around scheduling, appointment capacity, and how long the clinics will remain open still has to be decided. But for now, the City has chosen two facilities that are easy to find, with ample parking space.

“We will be taking a lot of parking. Of course some of the early stages of the vaccine campaign is going to be directed at seniors, so we’re going to be trying to get parking very close to these facilities,” explains Christian.

“We’re going to have our staff involved in some of the logistics in terms of cleaning, maintenance, our fire services, and some of the technical support, but it will be IHA that will be staffing those facilities and doing all the appointments, and booking and vaccine transfer.”

Interior Health Medical Health Officer Dr. Carol Fenton says IH and the Province have tentative plans for future vaccine roll out, but to make sure there’s enough supply for each Phase, they’re solidifying those details in two week intervals.

“We’re exploring a variety of options,” explains Dr. Fenton. “With the new announcement this week of the approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine which is much more stable, we can also consider using more of a distributed model like we did for the influenza. So that vaccine allows us to consider those options as well.”

The vaccination news comes at a time when community transmission rates in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo are showing a decline, and Dr. Fenton says the remaining facility outbreaks in Kamloops are also stabilizing.

“I’m really glad to see that because I’ve been on the media for the last month saying, ‘Our numbers are not great, we need to really do what we know what to do to bring those numbers down’, and we’ve done that.”

Now that the Phase Two vaccination plan is in place, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is facing questions about extending the gap between the first and second doses to 16 weeks. She says this will ensure everyone who is eligible will get their first dose by July.

The gap is much larger than in other parts of the country, and Pfizer suggest the gap for its vaccine should be 21 days. Dr. Henry says recent studies show it is safe for people to wait longer for that second dose.

Interior Health Medical Health Officer Dr. Carol Fenton says the explanation for the gap is simple.

“So if we had 100 doses, rather than giving 50 people two doses, we can give 100 people one dose. And so we get more protection up front this way.”

As vaccinations continue and cases decrease, health officials in British Columbia urge residents to continue practicing safe habits to ensure variant infection rates don’t grow out of control.