Interior Health says its mass vaccine clinic in Kamloops will be relocating next week.

The clinic has been set up since March at the Tournament Capital Centre but as of Tuesday next week, will be moved to Aberdeen Mall. It will on the first floor of the mall in the former La Senza retail store.

IH says drop-in and appointment-based vaccines will continue as normal at that site.

Both the TCC and McArthur Island Events Centre were used for mass vaccine clinics during the spring, before the Mac Island clinic was closed in late June so that the space could be used as a reception centre for wildfire evacuees.

“We want provide easier access to vaccine for more people, including youth ages 12 and over,” IH says in a statement to NL News, when asked why it was making this change.

“As well, there is a need to be able to return the TCC to the City of Kamloops for the community to have full access to the recreational facility and all the activities it supports.”

It points out the new clinic will be smaller but will be able to scale up size if needed.

Within Kamloops, there’s also a drop-in vaccine clinic set up today, and Friday, at Northills Mall, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A pop-up clinic will also be available tomorrow at FreshCo in Sahali, from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. A full list of vaccine clinics throughout Interior Health can be found here.

As of Monday, 80 per cent of people aged 12 and older in the Kamloops Local Health Area had received at least one vaccine dose. Broken down further, that figure is 85 per cent for Kamloops-South (the highest percentage of any Community Health Service Area in the Thompson-Okanagan), while Kamloops-North has a vaccine rate of 77 per cent and the Lower Thompson is at 73 per cent.