The BC Construction Association’s Fast Lane first-dose vaccination program for construction workers in the Lower Mainland was extended recently to their colleagues on Vancouver Island.
Vancouver Island Construction Association (VICA) CEO Rory Kulmala said, “The BCCA initiative supports the construction industry and its workers by making it easy for them to get vaccinated.”
Like the programs offered by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) in Vancouver and Fraser Health Authority (FHA) in Abbotsford and Burnaby, the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) is offering expedited vaccination opportunities at several centres on the Island.
Fast Lane is available July 2, 8, 9, 15, 16 between 1 and 4 p.m. at six locations:
- Campbell River – Campbell River Community Centre (401 11 Ave.)
- Courtenay/Comox – Glacier Gardens Arena (1399 Military Row)
- Nanaimo – Woodgrove Centre (6631 Island Hwy.)
- Nanaimo – Beban Park (2300 Bowen Rd.)
- Langford – Eagle Ridge Community Centre (1089 Langford Pkwy.)
- Victoria – Archie Browning Sports Centre (1151 Esquimalt Rd.)
No registration or appointment is required. Workers just need to present themselves at one of the locations on the dates and times that have been set aside for them.
They should wear their hard hat or bring their site access card or other construction identification.
The BCCA-VIHA initiative follows the mid-June announcement that VCHA and FHA would be offering Fast Lane clinics for construction workers in late June and July 8 and 9 between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m.
Jab sites are the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver (3075 Slocan Street), the Abbotsford Ag-Rec Building (32470 Haida Drive) and the Christine Sinclair Community Centre (formerly Fortius Sport and Health Centre) in Burnaby (3713 Kensington Avenue).
BCCA president Chris Atchison says the Fast Lane program came from a proposal the association made on behalf of the construction industry.
“We worked with the COVID-19 team at the Immunize BC Project, which is a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the BC Centre for Disease Control,” he said. “They contacted us because of our previous work on COVID and asked if we could help to ensure B.C.’s construction industry was getting vaccinated.
“We proposed the idea of Fast Lane clinics and they jumped on board, reaching out to all the health authorities and then connecting us when a health authority team responded positively.”
Atchison says B.C. construction needs the Fast Lane program.
“Without our workforce vaccinated to at least 70 per cent, 72,600 British Columbians would be unprotected,” he said.
Because construction has entered its busiest season, it can be a challenge for someone to schedule a vaccination after a long, hot day on the jobsite.
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