B.C. set to get first doses of J&J vaccine

• More details on how general public can get the J&J jab still to come
• Thousands of people have been asking for the single-dose vaccine
• It is widely used in the United States

British Columbia will be getting its first doses of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine, perhaps as early as next week.

In a COVID-19 update Tuesday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said B.C. will be getting a limited supply of the one-dose vaccine from the federal government. It is approved for people over 18 years old and clinical trials have shown it to be effective in protection against COVID-19, two weeks after the dose.

She said the first priority will be to offer the J&J vaccine to health-care workers who are currently unvaccinated, but there will also be some for the general public.

More details on how the general public can access the J&J through a central call number, will be announced next week.

Henry estimated a “couple of thousand people” have contacted her, wanting the viral vector J&J vaccine (same class as AstraZeneca) that has “good, strong protection,” and has been widely used in the United States.

Dr. Henry also reminded residents get a flu shot as they are starting to see their first cases of influenza, with four so far.

“It is very low, but it is a marker to us that this virus is circulating and can cause illness. Everyone can get a free flu vaccine, everyone over six months of age, for which we don’t have a vaccine for yet," she said.

Health minister Adrian Dix said another 1,548 health care workers have been vaccinated since the last update on Friday as part of the mandated program.

He said two per cent of the workers are unvaccinated, amounting to 3,071 employees, ranging from casual, to part-time and full-time workers.

Dix said Kelowna General Hospital has one operating room closed this week due to staffing shortages related to the vaccine requirements. To support critical care, KGH has reduced two other operating rooms, meaning its performing surgeries with three fewer operating rooms.

Dix said from Oct. 31 to Nov. 6, 288 non-urgent surgeries were postponed in B.C. including 58 in Interior Health.

-- With files from Pete McIntyre, Vernon Matters