Flu and COVID vaccines coming soon to BC pharmacies

The kids are back in school and so is COVID-19.

According to B.C.’s wastewater surveillance program, not a lot of people are sick with influenza A or B, or RSV right now, but COVID-19 cases are starting to tick upwards.

Unlike the other viruses, COVID-19 doesn’t follow a seasonal pattern where it drops off during the summer and spikes again in the fall and winter when people spend more time indoors together. That means there’s a risk of being exposed to COVID-19 year-round.

B.C.’s Health Ministry says it will be rolling out its fall COVID-19 and flu vaccine campaign starting in mid-October.

A COVID-19 vaccine helps protect against the virus by getting the body to produce antibodies, so it has an advantage in fighting off the virus if it comes in contact with it later.

“The vaccines provide strong protection against severe COVID-19 illness, including hospitalization and death,” according to HealthLink BC’s website.

Vaccines are free and available for everyone six months and older.

The rapid antigen test kits that have been handed out for free at pharmacies that let people quickly test if they are sick with COVID-19 will also be available while supplies last.

The province wound down funding for RAT kits this summer.

The Ministry of Health told The Tyee in an email that it ensured pharmacies and distributors are “well supplied” with tests that won’t expire until late 2026 and that, in the future, pharmacies could “decide to procure them in a user-pay model, like in Ontario.”

This round will offer the LP.8.1 Moderna (Spikevax) and Pfizer (Comirnaty) COVID-19 vaccines, which people can get separately or at the same time as their flu shot, the Health Ministry said in an email.

The vaccine is not mandatory but strongly encouraged, according to the ministry.

Health-care workers working in public health-care facilities are required to let their employer know if they’re vaccinated against things like COVID-19, measles, whooping cough and the flu, but are no longer required to get the shot in order to work.

The Health Ministry said people at highest risk of severe infection, such as residents in long-term care facilities, will be vaccinated first.

It added that people will start getting notifications to book their vaccine appointments starting today, Oct. 6, with the general public able to start getting their shots by mid-month.

B.C. residents can book an appointment through the province’s Get Vaccinated program, which sends out text messages, by calling the Get Vaccinated centre at 1-833-838-2323 or by checking with a local pharmacy for walk-in appointments.

The province wouldn’t say how many vaccine doses it purchased but said it ordered a “sufficient number” based on how many people got vaccinated last year.

“B.C. residents who wish to get immunized will be able to,” a spokesperson for the ministry told The Tyee via email.

Masks help avoid exposure

Vaccines help when a person is exposed to a virus. Personal protective equipment like medical masks help a person avoid being exposed in the first place.

A mask should fit comfortably over the mouth and nose with no gaps around the face to help reduce the spread of disease, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Blue medical masks and cloth masks are great at helping a sick person keep their germs to themselves. Only a proper fitting respirator, like an N95, KN95 or CAN95, protects the wearer from germs, especially diseases like COVID-19 and measles, which travel through the air.

Indoor ventilation using HEPA filters can also scrub the virus from the air (indoor air filters can be built at home for $100 or so) and, of course, staying home when sick helps reduce the spread of illness in the first place.

— This article was originally published by The Tyee