Health-care workers hope to be top of list as B.C. announces COVID-19 vaccine plan

Health-care organizations in B.C. say they are hopeful staff on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic will be prioritized when it comes to vaccine distribution in the coming weeks. 

Tuesday, Premier John Horgan tweeted that he expected approximately 4,000 high-risk people in the province would be immunized by the end of next week.

Nurses and care workers are hopeful they'll be among the first to be vaccinated.

"Those working in long-term care and of course, residents in long-term care, in assisted living, will be first on the priority list, which, of course, makes a lot of sense because three-quarters of the deaths in British Columbia due to COVID-19 have been in long-term care," said Terry Lake, CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Association, which represents non-government seniors' care facilities.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is scheduled to outline British Columbia's vaccine rollout plan Wednesday afternoon from 3:30 p.m. PT.

Few details about vaccine distribution have been released thus far, but the B.C. Nurses' Union is confident its members will be among the priority populations.

"We are advocating that our members have access to the vaccine, but we do recognize that there will be priority populations," said union president Christine Sorensen.

Both Sorensen and Lake understand the logistical challenges of distributing the vaccine and that it may take time before their all health-care workers are immunized.

"Vaccine rollout is not as easy as people think it will be," explained Sorensen who has a background as a public health nurse. "The most important thing is you want to make sure it's effective when you give it to somebody. So if it's damaged in transportation and becomes ineffective, that's a wasted dose."

Concerns about remote communities

The Pfizer vaccine must be stored in a freezer at –80 C to –60 C or in a thermal container at temperatures of –90 C to –60 C.

In her Monday briefing, Henry said that there are limited places in the province with that capacity, so it will receive small amounts to start with. The province undertook a trial run Tuesday to practice handling Pfizer's specialized containers, which contain dry ice. 

Lake believes that the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health authorities should also be priorities as they are dealing with the highest numbers of cases in B.C.

However, he says distribution could get more challenging in regions outside of the Lower Mainland.

"As we reach further out into the Interior and the North, I think those logistics get a little more problematic," he said. "Fortunately, the lack of density in those areas means that we don't have as much COVID. But it also means that those residents, if they do get COVID, are further away from care if they need intensive care. So the vaccine is very important for them, too." 

The nurses' union is encouraging all of its members to get the vaccine as soon as it's available to them. However, Sorensen says ultimately, the vaccine won't be mandatory.

"There will be people who will be unable to take the vaccine for a number of reasons, and we need to respect that," she said. "We will, of course, encourage the education of our members so that they have all the information."

The union will look at redeploying nurses who can't get vaccinated, for whatever reason, she says.