VANCOUVER -- The line snaked all the way around the block as more than 100 people waited patiently for their turn to get a COVID-19 vaccine in Vancouver’s Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood Saturday.

Unfortunately for them, the clinic at Vancouver Community College was only open to those with appointments.

“I’ve been here for about an hour and 45 minutes, actually,” said Michelle Dodek. “We were told at about 9:15 (a.m.) by a constable that we should wait … even though we didn’t have an appointment.”

That information turned out to be incorrect. The site was never planning to accept walk-ins, despite having a short window available Friday for those without appointments.

“What’s happened today, I think, has been a bit unfortunate,” said Andy Day, operations director for Vancouver Coastal Health, which organized the clinic at Vancouver Community College. “There has been misinformation that got circulated on social media and given a false impression.”

Jim Hope said he’d also been waiting about an hour and a half before learning that walk-ins were not available.

“Just shows you that people are trying to do the right thing and get themselves looked after so we can all get on with life,” he said. “It was worth a shot. We have nothing else to do. We can’t go anywhere, so.”

Kensington has been designated a hot zone, so the COVID-19 testing site there has been doubling as a vaccination clinic. It’s targeting those ages 40 and older with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“It wasn’t a matter of running out of vaccine,” said Day. “Decisions are made all the time about what neighbourhoods to prioritize with the vaccine supply that we have.”

He said the health authority chose three days to focus on the priority population to give out the vaccine.

“There’s lots of supply coming,” Day said. “Don’t be disappointed. The provincial system is working well. You will be contacted very soon to get your, sort of, turn in line.”

But questions remain about when more AstraZeneca will be shipped to Canada. So far, the only doses the federal government has obtained have been through smaller deals with COVAX, India and the United States. The main contract with AstraZeneca, which will see 20 million shots shipped to Canada, is estimated to start in June.

“We really need to pay attention to the hotspots, to the age groups that are transmitting the virus,” said Dr. Brian Conway, medical director for the Vancouver Infectious Disease Centre. “We need to do so more flexibly and more dynamically. We’re using nowhere near enough spots to vaccinate people.”

Health Minister Adrian Dix said during a news conference this week that AstraZeneca had been distributed to 610 pharmacies and it would be used for the hotspot areas around the province.

“In our first day, we put 17,000 appointments and we're just getting started with that program,” he said.

But Conway said there are some places that have offered to vaccinate people – such as doctors’ offices and clinics – that were not approved by health authorities. He says that needs to change.

“We designed a vaccine program when we didn’t have variants,” said Conway. “(At the time, the) absolute correct goal was to keep people out of hospital and from dying. And we accomplished that very, very well.”

Now, he said, it’s time to pivot and focus on the age groups that are transmitting the virus, which is those ages 20 to 39, as well as those being hospitalized, which is those ages 40 to 59.

“We need public health to be very transparent about this,” Conway said. “Where the disease is, reassign vaccination doses and do everything we can to get more vaccine.”

Conway also said it’s time to get creative to get more people vaccinated. In Manitoba, the premier has struck a deal with the Governor of North Dakota to vaccinate truckers.

“Can we do that?” Conway asked. “Truckers in Manitoba that go between Manitoba and North Dakota can get vaccinated in North Dakota through some arrangement between the two governments.”

He added that U.S. President Joe Biden said he would be willing to offer more help to Canada.

“If I were empowered to do so, I would be on the phone with President Biden or staff to say, ‘Fine, where is it? And I’ll send my guys to get it,’” said Conway.

He said the best way forward is for public health to be more transparent with its vaccine rollout. He wants to hear how many people the province is targeting each week to vaccinate, and where the hotspot neighbourhoods are and how we’re tackling those.

The provincial government website lists 16 hotspots where residents are currently eligible to get vaccines ahead of the province-wide schedule. 

Day estimated there would be roughly 400 people who got their first dose at the Kensington location on Saturday alone.

“Everyone’s going to get their turn,” he said.

Those who did have appointments and got the vaccine were elated.

“I’m kind of excited,” said Stella Rosario, who booked her appointment Friday. “I wasn’t able to sleep properly.”

“(I’m) very thankful about it,” she added. “I hope everyone will get it soon.”

Health officials want to remind everyone to register on the provincial government’s website and wait to be contacted when it’s their turn to book an appointment.