iN NUMBERS: BC’s vaccine rate isn’t protecting seniors

Vaccines are effective, but a lot of people in B.C. either disagree or don’t think they are worth a trip to the doctor since the province has one of the lowest vaccine uptake rates in the country.

The annual vaccine report card by CanAge puts the vaccination rate in the context of the province’s health-care system and how well it protects seniors. CanAge gave B.C. a grade of D+.

Here are the numbers: 

• 72: Per cent is the province’s flu vaccine uptake, eight per cent lower than the national goal. 
• 53: Per cent is the province’s pneumonia vaccine uptake. 
• 35: Per cent is the province’s shingles vaccine uptake. 
• 23: Per cent of seniors 65 and over had COVID-19 immunization from a vaccine as of September, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.
• 64: Per cent of seniors in B.C. have two or more chronic conditions.
• 138: Family physicians per 100,000 people in B.C. 
• 119: Pharmacists per 100,000 people in B.C. 
• 2: Places in Canada were worse off than B.C. as far as immunization goes, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. 
• 6,464: Dollars spent per British Columbian per year. 
• 300: Dollars comes out of a senior’s pocket for vaccines like shingles and RSV, a respiratory virus, that don’t get paid for by the province.