Cowichan Lake area residents will soon be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine closer to home.
A vaccine clinic is coming to the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena starting on Wednesday, June 23, and will be there for several days, says Island Health, including Saturday, June 26.
Anyone aged 12 and up who has not already had their first dose is welcome to attend. Register in advance at www.GetVaccinated.gov.bc.ca or call 1-833-838-2323 to get an appointment. Bookings opened at 9 a.m. on Monday, June 14.
For more information about the provincial registration system or how to get vaccinated for COVID-19 visit the BC government website.
As of late May, Cowichan Valley West, which includes Lake Cowichan, Youbou, Honeymoon Bay and Mesachie Lake, was the only area on Vancouver Island with less than 60 per cent of adults having had at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. Lake Cowichan Mayor Bob Day attributed that to a lack of resources in the immediate community, and he is thrilled to see a clinic coming to town.
“I did always know Island Health wasn’t going to miss anybody,” he said. “They’ve been keeping track, and here they come. I’m really confident this is going to get us up to the same rate as everybody else.”
It’s also perfect timing, with tourism season right around the corner. Last summer was Cowichan Lake’s busiest summer ever, in spite of COVID restrictions, and Day anticipates that trend to continue in 2021.
“Travel will be wide open, and we will go from a population of 6,000 for the whole area to bursting at the seams at over 10,000,” he noted. “That was my biggest concern at the start of all this.”
