Home Care and COVID-19 Vaccination Program

Early this week an update on the vaccination effort for home care workers was provided by Jen Lyle, CEO, SafeCare BC.

Based on SafeCare BC's latest conversation with the Ministry of Health, here’s what they know:

• Home care workers who work with seniors (65 years and up) are prioritized for Phase 2. At this time, those who work with other populations (e.g. young adults) or who work in office admin positions are not part of this group.
• Home care providers do not need to identify their clients. Those receiving home care services will be captured through the age-based cohort booking system. Information on that service can be found here and you can share this with your clients: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/vaccine/seniors
• Health authorities are contacting providers directly. SafeCare BC is not booking vaccinations – if you’re contacted by a health authority, we recommend you take the opportunity to book your vaccinations.
• Vaccination clinics for home care workers are being organized according to where your clients are located.
• Even as BC proceeds into later Phases, anyone from earlier phases can still get vaccinated. (E.g. if you were missed in Phase 1, you can still get vaccinated in Phase 2).

We have provided the contacts for every organization that responded to our home care vaccination survey to the Ministry of Health. We know that some operators are already being contacted to book for vaccinations (e.g. those in Fraser Health started receiving emails this week; some providers in Vancouver Coastal have also been contacted).
We have also asked for the contact information for each health authority’s COVID-19 vaccination lead, so we can directly connect anyone who may have been missed or who has questions with the appropriate person within the health authority. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as things proceed.