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October 08, 2021 - 9:30 AM
While 88.5% of all British Columbians have had at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, the Interior Health region has a ways to go to catch up and even further to go to reach the targeted vaccination rate for the province.
“Our provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has indicated that a vaccination rate of over 90% is what we need to achieve in order to significantly reduce the rate of COVID-19 transmission in British Columbia,” Karen Bloemink, vice-president of pandemic response for Interior Health, told the Interior Health board during an online board meeting Wednesday, Oct. 6.
The region as a whole has an 83% vaccination rate for those over the age of 12 with one dose and 75% of those have had two doses, she said.
“We do have work to do in order to continue with our progress to push our immunization rates up into that 90% and above range,” Bloemink said.
In response to a board member’s question, Bloemink said 40,000 to 50,000 Interior Health residents will need to be vaccinated to reach the 90% level.
While the region as a whole has an 83% vaccination rate, it’s not evenly distributed.
READ MORE: Most communities in Thompson, Okanagan still below B.C. vaccination rate
Enderby continues to have the lowest vaccination rate among the Community Health Service Areas in the Thompson-Okanagan region at 70% while Kamloops Centre South tops the list at 92%. Kamloops Centre North is only at 84%.
Large areas of the Central Okanagan are below the provincial and Interior Health averages with Lake Country and the Kelowna neighbourhood of Rutland at 81%. Some other areas of Kelowna are above the average with Glenmore at 89% and Okanagan Mission at 88%.
Penticton is at 86% and Vernon Centre/Coldstream is at 83%.
There are special clinics being held in schools and post-secondary institutions but some clinics have been scaled down and don’t operate every day of the week.
Clinic locations and schedules can be found here.
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