It will take a couple of weeks for both COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Kamloops to get up to speed.

Interior Health interim director of clinical operations, Carla Mantie, says the McArthur Island clinic is open this week but will be closed from Monday to Friday for next week only, when the vaccine clinic opens at the Tournament Capital Centre.

“And then the week after, so starting on the week of March 29th, we’ll actually have both sites going. So we may not have as many immunizers at both sites. We just want to make sure we’re watching how many clinics book up and how many people we have to still immunize. But we have potential to have at least 10 [immunizers] at each side,” she says.

“And then when we move into mass immunizations, which is phase three and is after April 12th, we’re working at 18 [immunizers] on each side. So we really have the ability to surge up or down – everywhere, really, but in Kamloops specifically – depending on the need.”

Mantie says the clinic at Mac Island will continue to vaccinate about 400 people per day this week, with 12 immunizers and about two-dozen staff in total.

There were 408 people who received a COVID-19 vaccine dose at Mac Island yesterday. Mantie says vaccinations went off without a hitch on day one of the vaccine rollout.

She says each person who goes in stays for about 30 minutes on average.

“By the time they walk in the door and are greeted and booked in, then they have to go and register… Then they go to be immunized and they spend about 10 minutes with the immunizer. Sometimes we’re able to get through that a little bit faster,” she says. “And then they have to sit and be observed in another spot for 15 minutes for any adverse reactions. And then they are escorted out through the exit, which is separate from the entrance.”

Details on how residents aged 80 and older and Indigenous residents aged 65 and older can book a vaccine appointment can be found online, here.