Onevch COVID-19 Bulletin

oneVCH COVID-19 Bulletin

March 12, 2021

COVID-19 VACCINATION PROGRAM What's coming up next ...

Immunization clinics now open for more health care professionals

This week, we were able to further expand vaccination eligibility and invite more priority groups to immunization clinics. First-dose appointments are now available for the following health professionals in acute and community care in urban areas of the VCH region:

Laboratory staff working in public health and private laboratories Midwives and office staff working in these settings Paramedics Pharmacists and pharmacy staff Public and community health program staff (regional, provincial, federal) Research staff exposed to COVID-19 patients Speech-language pathologists Registered Massage therapists Rehabilitation therapists Podiatrists Physiotherapists Chiropractors Acupuncturists Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Dentists, dental assistants, dental hygienists, dental technicians and their office staff Occupational therapists Canadian Blood Services Staff

If you belong to one of these eligible groups, please check for communication from your profession’s regulatory body or college for information about booking an appointment. At this time, we are not immunizing office staff who work with these professionals unless listed above. Clinics for these professions are currently only open in urban areas in the VCH region. We will provide more information for clinics in rural and remote areas in the coming weeks.

Priority groups for first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccine

B.C. is soon receiving its first shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, said yesterday that the AstraZeneca vaccine will be offered to staff in workplaces where we have seen clusters of cases and outbreaks, and workplaces that put staff at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. The province is focusing on three areas: the food processing industry; large industrial camps (especially those with congregate living accommodations); and farms and nurseries (including farms that employ temporary foreign workers). Dr. Henry said that the province is looking at a number of different approaches to immunizing staff in these settings. When more AstraZeneca is delivered in April, the province will look at expanding eligibility to other high-risk work settings.

Ensuring that homebound individuals in the VCH region receive their COVID-19 vaccination

This month, we have started booking appointments for and vaccinating individuals in our region who we have determined are homebound and cannot get to a clinic in the community. Some of these individuals are already connected to VCH programs or services, while others do not access these supports through VCH. We have received a number of questions about how homebound individuals will book appointments and receive their vaccine. VCH has developed processes to ensure that if an individual is assessed as being homebound, VCH staff will arrange to vaccinate them in their home. Once they become eligible, people who are homebound can book an appointment through the VCH public call centre at 1-877-587-5767. If they are VCH clients, we may reach out to them directly. As we have been alerted to some scam phone calls about vaccinations in the home, please note that VCH staff will never ask for credit card information or social insurance number in these calls.

Seniors age 85 and older now invited to book vaccine appointments. Read more →

Important reminder

COVID-19 Vaccines Important reminder: Provincial Health Officer (PHO) orders and Public Health guidelines, including strict adherence to personal protective equipment use, remain in place for everyone, even if you have received the vaccine.

For the most up-to-date information on the vaccination rollout, please visit our VCH intranet site.

Vaccination program updates and more →

Question of the day

Q: I recently became eligible for vaccination but I don’t see any appointments when I try to book. When will more appointments be available?

A: We understand that everyone is eager to book their vaccination appointment as soon as they hear they are eligible. New appointments are released on a week-to-week basis, and more are added throughout the week as clinic capacity and vaccine supply allows. The links for booking pages are valid. If you are unable to secure an appointment immediately, please check back often. Please do not call the central booking line for the general public or any other phone numbers within VCH. Thank you for your patience; we assure you that everyone who is eligible will be able to book an appointment in the coming weeks.

Questions? Check out our COVID-19 vaccine page for FAQs →

MEDICAL STAFF COVID-19 (PHYSICIANS, MIDWIVES, NURSE PRACTITIONERS & DENTISTS) Q&A: Rationale for delayed second dose

Q: Please review the evidence that supports lengthening the second COVID-19 dose to four months.

A: The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) have recommended that the interval between first and second dose be lengthened to four months (see here for more information). This decision was in part, based on scientific and real world data, and also was felt to be an ethical decision. By lengthening the interval, it frees up more first doses for the broader population, to more quickly reduce transmission of COVID-19 in the community.

Dr. Danuta Skowronski presented the evidence of very good protection by a single dose.

The NEJM article shows strong evidence of protection for six months after natural infection. The antibody levels produced by vaccination are not lower, so there is every expectation that they will not diminish while waiting for the booster dose. The evidence shows that a single dose provides very good protection. Not only in healthy adults, but also in residents of long-term care (LTC) homes. A single dose dramatically reduced outbreaks in LTC.

Medical Staff Q&A were generated during the March 10, 2021 Medical staff forum.

Miss the March 10th Forum? The AV recording of this and previous forums, as well as the full transcripts and a running list of Q&A are available on the intranet site and Slack.

Vaccines available in Canada Four COVID-19 vaccines – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) – have now been authorized for use in Canada. Information about how vaccines work, which vaccines are available and the approval process is available through the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Find out more about the COVID-19 vaccines →

UPDATE ON NEW AND EXISTING COVID-19 CASES (as of March 12, 2021)

There were 648 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 86,867 cases in B.C. Active cases: 9,155 Vancouver Coastal Health: 149 new cases Fraser: 372 new cases Interior Health: 39 new cases Island Health: 32 new cases Northern Health: 56 new cases People who normally reside outside of Canada: 0 cases 79 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern for B.C. for a total of 717 cases. 255 hospitalized 67 currently admitted to ICU 80,325 people have recovered 0 new deaths in the last 24 hours for a total of 1,397 confirmed deaths To date, 380,743 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 87,024 of which are second doses.

Click here to see more updates on the BC COVID-19 Dashboard

COVID-19 DATA Long-term care, assisted living and independent living sites COVID-19 data is available on the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) website, including outbreak and case information. The February 25, 2021 weekly COVID-19 long-term care outbreak report is also available on the website.

The website also includes situation reports, maps of cases in the province and more.

Click here to go to the BCCDC site →

KEY LINKS

Text Alerts: Physician sign up keyword: COVID19

Text Alerts: Staff sign up keyword: ALERT

Staff supports during COVID-19

Medical staff resources during COVID-19

REMINDER ABOUT MEDIA If you receive a media inquiry, please contact our Public Affairs team immediately for support. Our media line is 604-202-2012 or email [email protected].

COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? Please click here to submit questions or comments on our VCH COVID-19 intranet page.

KEY LINKS

BC COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool Wellness Together Canada: Mental Health and Substance Use Support COVID-19 Multilingual Resources Coping with COVID: Additional Employee Wellness/EFAP services VCH Virtual Health website Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) website: Staff resources on how to assess, test and treat patients and protect patients and staff. Infection Prevention and Control Policy: Ministry of Health VCH Regional Pandemic Outbreak Response Plan: VCH Communicable Disease Control website VCH Intranet: COVID-19 updates

REGIONAL AND LOCAL EOC ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES

COVID-19 VCH-PHC Regional EOC COVID-19 Vancouver Acute EOC COVID-19 Vancouver Community EOC COVID-19 Coastal EOC COVID-19 Richmond EOC COVID-19 Providence Health Care (PHC) EOC

The bulletins are distributed on Mondays and Thursdays. Past bulletins are available on the COVID-19 section of our VCH staff intranet.