Community members came out to the Terrace Sportsplex July 28, to mark the end of Northern Health’s mass vaccination drive in the city.
Dubbed ‘VAX the NORTH,’ the event consisted of the last COVID-19 vaccine clinic inside the Sportsplex, and a celebration in the parking lot complete with free food and refreshments, speeches, live music and entertainment.
READ MORE: Northern Health to host vaccination celebration in Terrace
In Terrace, the mass vaccination drive began on March 23, and saw 25,000 vaccines (first and second doses) administered over 38 days to community members according to Gillian McCutcheon, manager of community services at Northern Health.
As of July 28, McCutcheon said that the city centre area is just 350 people short of hitting the 80 per cent mark with a 77 per cent vaccination rate whereas the Terrace rural area is at 71 per cent.
While the numbers reflect mostly residents of Terrace, there were also people from outside the city and from other provinces and countries that got their shots here. Since Terrace has a “moving population” due to industry, this was mostly expected said McCutcheon.
The clinic mainly administered COVID-19 mRNA vaccines – Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. There were no complaints of adverse reactions to the mRNA vaccines recorded at the Terrace clinic.
“I’m sad to see it come to an end,” said McCutcheon on the last day of the vaccination drive and thanked staff and volunteers from Northern Health, First Nations Health Authority, City of Terrace and Kitsumkalum First Nation.
The Sportsplex clinic also saw many nurses from the community step out of their retirement to help out with administering the vaccines.
While the mass vaccination campaign is wrapping up, Northern Health will be providing ‘catch up’ clinics at the Terrace Health Unit throughout August. People seeking a shot at those clinics need to book an appointment by calling the health unit at 250-631-4200.