Fraser Health increasing number, hours of COVID-19 immunization clinics

B.C.'s largest health authority says it is expanding its COVID-19 vaccination capacity and expects to deliver an average of 75,000 doses weekly by Jan. 17.

Fraser Health announced Friday that it is expanding and reopening several mass immunization clinics to provide people with more opportunities to book appointments for booster doses.

The newly opened or expanded clinics include:

• Chilliwack Mall, which is now open Sunday to Thursday
• Cloverdale Recreation Centre, which is now open seven days a week
• Langley Events Centre, which opened Sunday, Jan. 9 and will be open Tuesday to Saturday starting Jan. 11
• Haney Place Mall in Maple Ridge, which is now open seven days a week
• Anvil Centre in New Westminster, which will be open Jan. 8 to 23 and Jan. 27 to 31
• South Surrey Recreation Centre, which is now open seven days a week
• Surrey North, which is now open seven days a week

There are now 18 immunization clinics in the health authority, and Fraser Health says it is working to set up additional sites in Burnaby and Coquitlam.

A full list of clinics and hours can be found on Fraser Health's website. 

"With this new clinic capacity, across all of our sites, we expect to provide an average of 75,000 immunizations weekly by Jan. 17, 2022, up from an average of 32,000 immunizations weekly in December 2021," the health authority said in a news release.

"In addition, we expect pharmacies in our region to provide an average of 40,000 immunizations weekly by Jan. 17, 2022, up from an average of 18,000 immunizations weekly in December 2021."

B.C. has been inviting adults who received their second doses of COVID-19 vaccine six months ago to book appointments for booster shots, but the rollout has been far from smooth.

Officials blamed long lines at the Vancouver Convention Centre - which is an immunization site for Vancouver Coastal Health - last week on inclement weather, but Health Minister Adrian Dix revealed the following day that roughly one-quarter of those in line did not have appointments. 

The province said Friday that more than 500,000 of the booking invitations it had sent had not yet resulted in an appointment being booked.

At least some of those invitations were redundant. CTV News has heard from multiple people who booked vaccination appointments over the phone through Immunize B.C. before receiving invitations, then received their invitations after they had already gotten their booster shot.