Civic Centre equipped to provide PG residents with a COVID-19 vaccine

After days of preparations, Prince George’s COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic is set to open next week.

It will operate on Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm.

Anyone aged 80 and up, or Indigenous residents aged 65 and up, that have booked an appointment will be receiving the vaccine at the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre.

Currently, the clinic has the capacity to administer around 200 vaccines per day but Northern Health will be scaling up efforts to accommodate more bookings if necessary.

Northern Health Spokesperson, Eryn Collins says it is currently undetermined if this will be the only vaccination clinic running in Prince George.

“We’re currently focusing on phase two right now but plans are in the works for future opportunities and changes to how people might register when we’re into phase three and four,” explains Collins.

BC’s eldest population is scheduled to be vaccinated during phase two of BC’s Immunization plan, which runs from the middle to the end of April.

However, given Northern Health’s population size, the region may progress faster into the plan than other BC regions.

“There are schedule variations in different areas, even within the Prince George area, so we really encourage people to look at the Northern Health website, and find their community’s specific information in terms of vaccine eligibility,” said Collins.

For example, Fort Nelson began booking vaccine appointments for community members aged 60 and older on  Wednesday.

Got a sneak peak at Prince George’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic. The clinic has the capacity to vaccinate around 200 people a day. The clinic will be open from Tuesday to through Saturday pic.twitter.com/OJApibL7gr

— Francoise Dione? (@dione_wearmouth) March 12, 2021

Vaccine recipients can be accompanied by a caregiver or companion, upon arrival they will enter through the centre’s main doors, then wait in line to be screened for COVID-19 before entering the waiting room in the auditorium.

“We are asking anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 to delay their appointment but if they are found to have symptoms from the screening, they will be asked to re-book for another time,” said Collins, “if recipients arrive outside their scheduled time, they will be asked to go outside and wait until their appointment time.”

Once screened, recipients will check-in at the registration desk, which according to Collins, will only take about 30-45 seconds.

NH staff will be working in the auditorium waiting room to answer any vaccine-related questions.

After being vaccinated at one of the ten vaccine stations, recipients will wait in a separate room for 15 minutes so staff can monitor for any symptoms such as allergic reactions.

Here are the waiting areas. Recipients will need to wait for 15 minutes after getting vaccinated so Northern Health staff can watch for any allergic reactions or symptoms. Then, recipients will exit out through the other doors and help stop the spread of the virus in PG! pic.twitter.com/aFImwCFHu0

— Francoise Dione? (@dione_wearmouth) March 12, 2021

The duration of all appointments should take about 25-30 minutes, including the 15-minute post-vaccination waiting period.

Northern Health has worked with the Native Friendship Centre and the First Nations Health Authority to ensure the appointment experience is culturally friendly.