Yukon to send COVID-19 vaccine doses to nearby Atlin, B.C.

Yukon will be sharing its doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with neighbours in Atlin, B.C.

The community is unusual in that it can only be reached by road from Yukon. It's about a two-hour drive away from Whitehorse.

B.C.'s Northern Health, the B.C. First Nations Health Authority and the government of Yukon announced in a news release on Friday that immunization clinics will be held in Atlin on Jan. 27 and 28.

The news release says handling requirements for the vaccine, along with Atlin's remote location, make logisitics a challenge. 

"[Atlin] is part of our northern health authority's jurisdiction and our region, but that said, it is in a location that lends itself, I think, to some affiliation with the Yukon," said Eryn Collins of Northern Health.

Two hundred doses of the Moderna vaccine will be shipped from Whitehorse to Atlin ahead of next week's clinics. Those clinics will focus on priority groups such as elders, seniors, health care workers and the medically vulnerable.

Atlin residents who are eligible for the first round of inoculations will be contacted directly and offered an appointment.

People are also encouraged to contact the Atlin Health Centre or the Taku River Tlingit First Nation health team directly beginning on Monday, Jan. 25, if they have questions or live without telephone access. 

Yukon began its own community vaccination clinics last week, with two mobile vaccine teams travelling across the territory over the coming weeks.

The territory has so far received 14,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine, with more expected to arrive in February.