B.C. estimates nearly 20 percent of the eligible population are unvaccinated
COVID-19: Unvaccinated British Columbians may face limits on where they can go
Joanne Lee-Young
The Vancouver Sun
Dr. Bonnie Henry said there may be examples where imposing workplace vaccination requirements makes sense for businesses
B.C. health officials are hoping a fresh immunization campaign will get more British Columbians vaccinated against COVID-19, while hinting there could be consequences for those who choose to remain unvaccinated.
‘Vax for B.C.’ is aimed at reaching the more than 900,000 unvaccinated British Columbians, and making it easier for them to get a jab by bringing clinics near work places, lunch spots and vacation areas like beaches.
“The next two weeks are critical to our immunization campaign and, more importantly, to protecting our province and putting the pandemic in the rear view mirror,” the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, told a news conference on Tuesday.
B.C. has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world — with more than 80 per cent of eligible people vaccinated with the first dose and 61 per cent fully immunized — but with new cases on the rise because of the more-transmissible Delta variant, Health Minister Adrian Dix and the head of the vaccine rollout, Dr. Penny Ballem, said there’s more work to be done.
“We want to reach these people,” said Ballem. “They’re across the province and range from nearly 15 per cent unvaccinated in Vancouver Coastal to another 30 per cent in the Northern Health authority and in between in the other health authorities.”
On Tuesday, the province reported 150 new COVID-19 cases with about two-thirds of these, or 95 cases, in Interior Health. That’s an uptick from 112 cases on Thursday and just under 100 each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Under the new vaccination push, drop-in clinics, mobile clinics, and pop-up clinics at community events will be set up in dozens of communities across the province. People who want to get vaccinated will be able to go to walk in and get their first or second shots without an appointment. The requirement for there to be 56 days between the two shots has now been lowered to 49 days.
While some jurisdictions are seeing upticks in vaccination rates after deciding to require proof of vaccination for travel by train or for entry to bars, gyms and restaurants, Henry said vaccination in B.C. would continue to be voluntary and focused on giving “everybody all of the opportunities to make that choice.”
She did, however, hint at the possibility of escalating tactics.
“It is a choice to be immunized, but there are consequences for people who are not immunized and that’s going to be more important for us as we head into the fall, as we know this virus will increase and we’re likely to see other respiratory viruses,” said Henry. “We’ll be looking at the measures that we need to put in place to protect people, particularly those who are most vulnerable.”
Henry said there may be examples where imposing workplace vaccination requirements makes sense for businesses. “If I was running a nightclub, I would want to make sure that my staff are protected. Yes, we absolutely can say, ‘to come in here, you have to be immunized.’ That gives people the level of comfort that they are in a safer environment.”
People who have received two doses of vaccine are significantly less likely to be hospitalized or to have severe illness, said Henry.
B.C. data shows 78 per cent of those hospitalized with COVID-19 now are completely unvaccinated, while another 18 per cent have only received one jab. The province estimates 906,772 people, or nearly 20 per cent of the eligible population, are unvaccinated.
The highest rates are in Northern B.C. with 32.5 per cent unvaccinated, and the Interior with 26.2 per cent, and the lowest in the Vancouver Coastal area at 14.8 per cent.
Henry said that the number of “people who are actually anti-vaccine or dead set against getting immunized is a very small percentage,” saying surveys estimate this group could include one or two per cent of people who have never been immunized, with that number possibly rising to five per cent for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Fewer than five per cent of new COVID-19 cases are among the fully vaccinated, said the B.C. Centre of Disease Control.
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