The Urban and Away from Home Indigenous Vaccination Clinic opened its doors with an opening ceremony this morning (Tuesday).
The clinic will be available on May 11th, 13th, 14th, 18th, and 19th to provide first-dose vaccinations to First Nations, MĂ©tis, and Inuit people living in the Prince George area.
Local Drum Circle, Thundering Eagles performed at the ceremony, and band member Robert Goats from Ulkatcho First Nations was the first to receive his shot at the clinic.
He says the experience was a little nerve-racking at first, but once he entered the clinic his nerves were eased.
Julie Morrison, Acting Regional Executive Director of the First Nations Health Authority, says it is important that Indigenous residents have an opportunity to receive a vaccine in a culturally sensitive environment.
“We really felt it was important to provide this clinic to our members that live away from home and in Prince George,” explained Morrison.
She says that while it is similar to the vaccination clinic downtown, this one is being operated by the First Nations Health Authority, Northern Health, and Carrier Sekani First Nations.
“A lot of our First Nations people may not feel comfortable to phone, they may have trouble navigating the system when booking the appointment and we wanted to make sure it was something that they could work through and even if they didn’t have an appointment and they just showed up we’d be able to assist them,” added Morrison.
The clinic is being operated in a way that removes any barriers that would keep Northern Indigenous residents from getting the shot and allows patients to book an appointment by phone, online or in-person.
“We know that there is vaccine hesitancy and we want to make sure residents can come and speak to one of our nurses and they can get any answers based on science so that they’re comfortable,” added Morrison.
In the clinic, there are ten vaccination stations, and around 250 doses per day can be administered.
According to Morrison, it will be primarily offering the Moderna vaccine, much like other Indigenous pop-up vaccine clinics across the North.
The clinic is already booked up completely today and is getting booked up rapidly for the rest of the available days, however, Morrison says it is hard to tell exactly how many doses will be administered in total.
“The challenge for us is not knowing the numbers, we have no idea how many First Nations people or Inuit or MĂ©tis live in the Prince George area and we have no idea how many need to be vaccinated,” she noted.
The Urban and Away from Home Indigenous Vaccination Clinic can be reached at 1-833-838-2323 every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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