B.C. expected to start vaccinations for COVID-19 in January

B.C. is gearing up to start vaccinating high risk seniors and healthcare workers in the first week of January, but provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry warns there will be limited supplies for the first few weeks or months.

Only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are likely to be available early on.

“We have about six million doses across the country of that vaccine that we expect to come through January through February through March,” Dr. Henry said during a news conference today, Dec. 3. “That’s not enough for everybody.”

That’s why the early focus will be on seniors and health care workers.

Two other vaccines are moving into the approval process in Canada and she expects those to be more widely available starting in the second quarter of next year.

“By the time we get into April of 2021, we’re expecting increased numbers of all the vaccines to be available,” Dr. Henry said. “That’s when we can start offering it to more people across British Columbia and across Canada, but it will take some time. We need to sequence as we go because we can’t do everybody at once.”

She hopes to have everyone in the province vaccinated by September of 2021.

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