British Columbians travelling cities for COVID booster amid appointment shortages

With the province expanding its COVID-19 booster shot program, many of those now getting their invitation to book are having trouble finding a timely appointment nearby, according to posts online.

Amy Fraser couldn’t get an appointment close to home before the end of the month.

Fraser and her husband live in Langley and received their invitation for a boost Tuesday. She says the two wanted to get their shot “as soon as possible,” but the next available appointment was for late January.

“We checked Langley, Surrey (and) we checked all the closest cities, and then the closest available date for us at the Langley pharmacy was the 29 of January and just being proactive, we wanted to get it as soon as possible,” she told CityNews.

So, she made her appointment in Chilliwack for this weekend.

While Fraser says it’s “not the end of the world” to commute from Langley to Chilliwack, she says, “it could be better.”

“I want to do as much as I can to stay vaccinated and protect my family, especially with the surging cases,” she adds.

“I was just shocked … if we’re trying to minimize the amount of interaction [but] we’re driving to a different city, the road conditions aren’t that great, I would prefer to stay closer to home … it just doesn’t make sense.”

Fraser says she could go to her local pharmacy and wait, but she doesn’t have the time for that with four young children.

“We are going to try that on Friday, but it is less ideal to have to wait and take time off work, it would just be more predictable if we could book a shot closer to home.”

The lack of near appointments is has left Fraser wondering why the province hasn’t made more appointments available?

Other posts online say they’re driving from the Fraser Valley to Vancouver to get an earlier appointment.

Got my invite last night, can’t get an appointment until January 25 (in Squamish). Tried Whistler, North Vancouver, even downtown and couldnt find anything much earlier. My husband got his this morning and can’t get an appointment til the 31st.

— Kristin (@kristinhierck) January 5, 2022

I live in Langley can can’t get an appointment until February 15th (as of yesterday) so I booked at the Canada Place convention center near my office and can get in January 13th! I take transit from Langley to downtown so I don’t want to wait 6 weeks.

— Sandra (@StickChick13) January 5, 2022

The health authority says it is workig to “expand access” to booster doses.

“Fraser Health is adding immunizations appointments daily to accommodate the demand we are seeing, so we encourage people to check our website frequently,” says a spokesperson in an email.

“To support people in accessing third-dose and booster COVID-19 vaccine, Fraser Health is reopening and expanding additional COVID-19 vaccine clinics in communities throughout our region. Some of these clinics are already booking appointments and we expect other centres to be fully operational with increased capacity in the coming days.”