Whistler vaccination program begins amid B.C. lockdown questions

WHISTLER (NEWS 1130) – As adults living and working in Whistler start lining up for COVID-19 vaccines Monday, questions still remain about whether the province could see a broader lockdown.

When asked Saturday about the possibility of more drastic public health measures being announced at the start of the week, Health Minister Adrian Dix said “no.” He did not, however, say if we could see a broader lockdown or extended orders for the current measures announced later this week.

The current “circuit breaker” order is in effect until next Monday and the province is expected to present the latest COVID-19 modelling later this week.

Whistler gained international attention for having what is considered the largest outbreak of the P1 variant of concern outside of Brazil. Last Tuesday, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced B.C. had recorded a total of 877 cases of the P.1 variant, with more than 22 per cent of cases linked to the popular ski resort.

As a result, the province declared anyone over the age of 18 living in Whistler can book a vaccine appointment as of Monday as part of a program to immunize the entire community.

“Whistler has been the focus of, you know, three very difficult surges, we’ve used aggressive public health measures, to the best of our ability to manage them,” says Dr. Penny Ballem, who is heading up the province’s vaccine rollout.

Registration can be done online, and shots will be administered at the Whistler Conference Centre. Proof of eligibility, including permanent resident address or recent paystub confirming local Whistler employment, will be required.

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The announcement of this plan comes as the Howe Sound Corridor records the highest case rate in any B.C. community since the start of the pandemic, with 400 new cases this last week.

Ballem says the province has already immunized around 3,000 people who work on the mountain and in local hotels.

“But there remain, you know, really thousands of workers from the corridor who come and work in Whistler, and we feel that we’re at a place now where we’ve got to get better containment of this surge,” she said.

Canada expecting at least 36.5 million doses of vaccine by end of June

Health Canada anticipates a total of 36.5 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India by June 30.

B.C. residents aged 60 and older can now register to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

People born in 1961 and earlier, Indigenous peoples 18 and older, and those who are “clinically extremely vulnerable” can now register to book their vaccine appointment either online, through a call centre or at a Service BC Location.

Canadian provinces have suspended use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in people under age 55, acting on an advisory committee’s concerns about a possible link between the shot and rare blood clots.

With files from Marcella Bernardo and The Canadian Press