Unvaccinated health-care workers to get priority for Johnson & Johnson vaccines arriving in B.C. next week

Vancouver –

Health-care workers will be given first priority for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which B.C. health officials say is expected to arrive by next week.

In a COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the supply of the J&J vaccines will be limited.

“We have not received it yet, but we’re expecting to receive … a limited amount here in British Columbia, hopefully by early next week,” Henry said.

B.C.’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health-care workers means that anyone who isn’t fully vaccinated against the virus is currently on unpaid leave. But, Henry says there are health-care workers who are still unvaccinated but have been waiting for the J&J vaccine to get immunized.

“Our first priority will be offering it to health-care workers who have been affected by the PHO (vaccine) order, who want this vaccine as an option for them to continue to safely work in health care,” Henry said.

The J&J vaccine is considered a more traditional vaccine as it uses virus-based technology, as opposed to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines which use mRNA.

While the first couple of weeks administering the J&J vaccine will prioritize those in health care, Henry says there will be some available for others later on.

“There have been a lot of people who’ve reached out to me asking for the J&J vaccine,” she said. “We will have some available and we will be providing you with the details next week of how you can access this through a central call-in number.”

This is a developing story that will be updated.