Rutland, Lake Country lag behind other Interior Health communities for COVID vaccinations

The percentage of the population 18 and up in the Southern Interior that’s had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine is as high as 60% with two notable exceptions, according to BC Centre for Disease Control data.

While the data produced last week doesn't drill down to specific neighbourhoods for most Thompson-Okanagan cities and towns, the BC CDC showed that most of these areas are posting a vaccination rate in the 41 to 60% range, while areas like Revelstoke, Arrow Lakes and the North Thompson are in the 61 to 90% zone.

Falling short, however, are Lake Country and Rutland, which show that as of May 10, only 21 to 40% of adults 18 and older have been vaccinated.

Rutland, for its part, may be different when the data is updated Wednesday, May 19, as it has been part of a vaccination push in response to higher caseloads.

Last week, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said more data will be made available to the public in the days and weeks to come.

First, however, it will filter through the 100 or so health officials that help make decisions for regulations in the province.

“I want to reassure people the first and primary role of the surveillance data that we collect is to make the best decisions from public health that we can, and that means sharing it with widely with public health professionals with researchers with scientists so that we best understand it,” she said.

“That's the primary purpose of the data and that's how we use it at a local level — on a one to one level with public health, at a provincial level to make provincial decisions about our program, and then we post as much as possible, publicly, so that everybody can see the data as well.”

As of 7 p.m. Sunday, May 16, everyone aged 18 and older became eligible to book their shot.

As of last Friday, more than 2.26 million British Columbians, which is more than 44% of B.C.’s population, had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

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