B.C. COVID-19 vaccine rollout: When will you be able to get the vaccine?

B.C. has announced the COVID-19 vaccine schedule and rollout plan for the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021.

For those wanting the vaccine, the question is when are they going to be able to get the it?

First in line will be front-line health care workers connected to long-term care facilities and those working in intensive care, emergency and hospitals where COVID-19 patients are being treated.

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Next will be residents of long-term care homes.

Seniors over the age of 80 will be able to receive the vaccine next.

Those in high-risk living conditions, including people living in shelters, the homeless, and people in remote and isolated Indigenous communities are next in line.

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The province said the goal is to have all of these groups vaccinated in the first three months of 2021.

Starting in April, 2021, other frontline workers such as paramedics, firefighters, police officers, grocery store workers, transportation workers and teachers will be eligible for the vaccine.

Everyone else will start to become eligible in increments by risk, starting with those aged 75 and up, and moving downward in five-year age groups.

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The vaccine is not recommended for cancer patients, those in immunocompromised positions, pregnant women or children under the age of 16.

This vaccine requires two doses to be fully protected and the second dose needs to be administered at a minimum of 21 days apart with full immunity by about seven days after the second dose.

In order to start easing social distancing rules and mask policies, the province said at this time, based on what it knows, 60 to 70 per cent of the population will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

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Other vaccines may be suitable for those in immunocompromised positions, pregnant women and children under the age of 16 but the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are not suitable for these groups at this time.

The province said as more vaccines become available and more products become available, this timeline will go faster.

More to come…