So close, and yet so far.
If you’re a 30-something New Westminster resident living along 10th Avenue, you’re about 50 metres away from being eligible for your COVID-19 vaccine.
Likewise if you’re living in the 900 block of Cumberland Street, or Second, or Sixth, or the 500 block of Amess Street – or, really, anywhere within shouting distance of the New Westminster-Burnaby border.
Residents of southeast Burnaby born in 1991 or earlier just became eligible for their immunizations yesterday as part of Fraser Health’s rollout to designated hotspots (or, as they're being officially referred to, “high-transmission neighbourhoods").
That means folks living on the Burnaby side of 10th Avenue – the entire length of the New Westminster border – are now eligible to book their shots.
The announcement leaves residents of many New Westminster neighbourhoods, from Massey-Victory Heights across to the West End and Connaught Heights, tantalizingly close to being eligible, but still out in the cold.
By postal code, those with V3L and V3M postal codes are largely out of luck (although a small chunk of V3M postal codes are eligible). If you want to double-check your own eligibility, you can use the Government of B.C.’s postal code search.
With yesterday’s announcement covering both southeast and southwest Burnaby, all Burnaby residents aged 30 and up living in the southern half of the city – the area that stretches from the Fraser River to Highway 1 – can now book their shots.
“Priority immunization for people in high-transmission neighbourhoods is one part of our strategy to manage COVID-19 transmission in our region,” a Fraser Health press release says. “We are continuing with immunizing priority groups and locations where we are seeing outbreaks and clusters. By providing vaccine to these specific neighbourhoods, we can protect more people and help prevent COVID-19 transmission in our communities.”
AGE-BASED ROLLOUT MOVING QUICKLY
The news isn’t all bad for those still awaiting vaccines in New Westminster, as the province’s main age-based vaccine rollout has been quickly picking up steam.
Starting tonight (Friday, May 7) after 7 p.m., vaccine booking will be available to people born in 1975 or earlier. By Sunday, that will roll down to those born in 1978 or earlier, and by Tuesday, May 11, all people born in 1981 or earlier will be eligible.
You will be contacted to book your vaccine if you have already registered – so, if you haven’t, get registered now through the Get Vaccinated website, in person at the closest Service BC location or through the provincial call centre (between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.) at 1-833-838-2323.
Anyone who is pregnant and born in 2005 or earlier is also eligible to book a vaccination appointment now.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, jmaclellan@newwestrecord.ca.
