UPDATED: 2:30 p.m.
Nine pharmacies in Kamloops are receiving doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, and some have already started to administer doses.
The owner of Kipp Mallery pharmacy in downtown Kamloops, Kristina Gifford, says it received 200 doses of the vaccine, and those were spoken for almost as soon as the online booking system opened up. “Today we have 60 [appointments booked]… we have 200 doses and they will all be gone by Tuesday afternoon,” she tells NL News.
“It’s a bit of a waiting game and it is sort of very last minute, but people are itching to get their vaccines which is great. It doesn’t take long for it to book up. Ours booked up really, really quickly.”
Gifford adds that there is already an extensive waiting list for when another shipment arrives. It is collecting people’s email addresses to contact them once things open back up. “We can’t just book people in because they may have booked somewhere else or that kind of thing. So we send it out to everyone on the wait list and say it is open again and they’ll just jump on and book your spot.”
Right now, the AstraZeneca vaccine is only being administered to people between 55 and 65 years old. It’s suspended for now for adults under 55 years old, because of isolated cases of blood clots linked to the vaccine for that population in some parts of Europe.
You can head to the Kipp Mallery website to get on the waiting list.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca doses are going to nine Kamloops pharmacies altogether, at pharmacies in Aberdeen, Sahali, downtown, Valleyview, the North Shore and Brocklehurst.
Pharmacies in Vernon and Kelowna will be able to administer doses as well. A list of all clinics involved can be found here, on a map provided by the B.C. Pharmacy Association.
Note: At time of posting, the map shows a pharmacy east of Merritt, but that map dot should be at the Rexall at 101-1801 Princeton-Kamloops Highway in Aberdeen, in Kamloops.