A rapid-response vaccination clinic has been set up in Snuneymuxw First Nation in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith region in response to a growing COVID-19 outbreak.
The Snuneymuxw First Nation opened the clinic on Wednesday, administering the Moderna vaccine to anyone 18 and older who wants it in the community.
The clinic is expected to continue Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Elders living on-reserve were given the first opportunity to be vaccinated, followed by frontline workers and then community members.
On Tuesday, three more Snuneymuxw First Nation members tested positive for COVID-19, for a total of 19 to date. All are isolating and Island Health says it is doing contact tracing and conducting daily check-ins with affected families.
Snuneymuxw Chief Mike Wyse and council put a stay-at-home order in place on Sunday in hopes of slowing transmissions and appealed for expedited access to the vaccine. Students are required to stay home and learn remotely.
“Our most important goal right now is to contain the spread of the virus and do our absolute best to prevent further transmission,” said Wyse on Tuesday in a letter announcing the clinics. He asked community members to do everything in their power to flatten the curve and observe a stay-at-home order.
In total, nine First Nations communities on Vancouver Island are delivering vaccination clinics, said Richard Jock, chief executive officer of the First Nations Health Authority. Eighteen have been prioritized in the province.
The names of the rural, remote and isolated communities receiving vaccine are not being revealed, said Jock at a news conference on Wednesday. However, several leader have posted pictures of themselves being vaccinated, including in Ahousaht near Tofino and Ehattesaht in Zeballos, to encourage community members to get vaccinated.
The vaccine, while targeted to isolated and remote communities, can also be sent to communities with significant community clusters, such as the one in Snuneymuxw, which was not on the initial priority list, said First Nations Health Authority officials.
“This is the first time we have gone away from our original plan and list of prioritized communities to put forth vaccines for a community experiencing one of those clusters,” said Dr. Shannon MacDonald, acting chief medical officer of the health authority.
One of the things the health authority will be watching is how providing the vaccine during an outbreak affects transmission and outcomes in the community, said MacDonald. “We’re very interested in seeing how this goes in this community.”
Since the pandemic began, 2,000 First Nations members have tested positive and 24 have died, said MacDonald. Of those infected, 191 were on Vancouver Island. MacDonald declined to say how many First Nations on the Island have died from the virus.
The overall death toll doesn’t appear large compared to that in the wider community, said MacDonald.
“But in our context, in our communities, each of those individuals plays an important role,” she said. “The biggest concern has always been the elders in our communities who are living libraries, our knowledge holders and language keepers, and communities have been expressing since the beginning of this [pandemic] the importance of protecting them.”
Jock said the vaccine has been sent to four other communities that are experiencing outbreaks in other regions.
Cowichan Tribes in the Duncan region has several confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Dr. Nel Wieman, acting deputy chief medical officer for the First Nations Health Authority, said the vaccine has brought hope that “things will change and we will be able to gather together again in cultural activities and ceremony — but that time is not quite yet.”
Wieman said the health authority is sending a message to community members that the benefits of the vaccine greatly outweigh any risks.
