Interior Health is hoping to have all long-term care workers in the region vaccinated by the end of January.

However, Kamloops medical health officer Dr. Carol Fenton says IH can’t make any promises yet on a firm timeline.

“There are a lot of variables at play. Between the people making the appointments, our ability to staff the clinics, our supply of vaccines and which vaccine it is, between Pfizer and Moderna. So it’s too early for me to make an accurate prediction,” Fenton says.

“We’re hoping that we’ll have all of the long-term care workers in IH vaccinated by the mid- to end-of-January, and then move on to the next risk groups. So this is what we’re hoping for, but we can’t make any promises because of the moving targets.”

The first doses of the Pfizer vaccine were distributed in Interior Health yesterday, at vaccination clinics in Kamloops and Kelowna.

By the end of March, the province will have delivered 392,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Those will go to healthcare workers, seniors in long-term care, at-risk residents and people in isolated communities.

Today, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said each one of those people will get a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine 35 days later.