People born in or before 1936 can begin booking their COVID-19 vaccination appointment through health authorities as of noon today, said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix. That’s four days earlier than planned.
The change reflects the fact that most Indigenous people ages 65 and older and non-Indigenous people 90 and older — the group allowed to book this week — have already booked their appointments, Dix said Wednesday.
“We’re determined and ready and able, starting at noon [today], to accept the next group of people a few days early.”
Of approximately 85,000 people who are eligible, 39,163 have booked appointments, said Dix.
About 30,000 people have already received a vaccination.
“There’s lots of space on the [phone] lines, and there has been all afternoon,” said Dix.
Call centres booking vaccination appointments were slammed Monday, resulting in hours-long waits and dropped calls. An online system was offered in only one of five health authorities in B.C.
On Tuesday, Dix blamed Telus, which had been contracted to provide the call-centre service, for the failures, citing significant understaffing and technical glitches.
A day later, he commended Telus CEO Darren Entwistle for putting “his whole team’s shoulder to the wheel over the last couple of days to catch up — and then go beyond what we had expected in terms of booking appointments.”
“We’ve got an appointment-booking process and an immunization process that will take months — it’s important that we get it right,” Dix said.
Telus ramped up to 225 agents on Tuesday and promised that 600 agents would be “fully operationalized and productive” on Wednesday.
Telus said just after noon Wednesday it surpassed its original staffing commitment to the government by 295 per cent and made significant improvement in appointment bookings.
Island Health booked 944 appointments on Wednesday, for a total of 6,145 out of an eligible 14,500 people.
Still, Opposition Liberals questioned the province over what it called a chaotic opening week for call centres booking immunization appointments.
“Whose signature is on this thoroughly botched contract?” asked Liberal MLA Peter Milobar in question period. “How much money is being spent, and on what terms? And will the premier table that contract for everyone in the public to be able to review today?”
Health authorities have arrangements with Telus under the government’s master agreement with the company, said Dix, because the service was needed for a distinct period, not permanently.
“Health authorities are in the health business, not in the call-centre business.”
Dr. Penny Ballem, executive lead for B.C.’s immunization strategy and chair of Vancouver Coastal Health, said “bumps along the way” are not unexpected for the largest vaccination program in B.C. history, adding everyone will have the opportunity to be vaccinated by this summer.
The province announced 531 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, including 19 in Island Health, for a total of 4,861 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.
Of the 202 active cases on the Island, more than half are in the central region.
Fifty-one new variants of concern were found in positive COVID-19 tests province-wide, for a total of 627 — 109 of which are active. The majority, 580 cases, are the U.K. variant, 33 are the South Africa variant, and 14 are the Brazil variant.
A shipment of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine arrived on Wednesday and is expected to initially be used for areas of clusters and outbreaks.
Later, the AstraZeneca vaccine will be offered to people ages 18-64 working in essential services who can’t work from home.
A committee is expected to decide the priority list by March 18.
There has been one new COVID-19 related death for a total of 1,394 in the province to date.
> Phone lines in each health authority are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In Island Health the number is 1-833-348-4787.
