Hope has spent the year lagging behind the rest of the Fraser Valley in vaccination progress.
The numbers are released each week by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. And each week, the town’s population overall has moved sluggishly forward.
As the year comes to an end, the numbers are getting closer to the provincial rates of 84 per cent who have had a first dose.
As of Dec. 20, 79 per cent of Hope residents aged 12 and up have had at least one dose, and 75 per cent have had two doses. However, 20 per cent of the population has already had a booster shot, which is the third highest rate in Fraser Health.
Among children ages 5-11, who can now be vaccinated, only 10 per cent have had their first shot. But that number jumps to 63 per cent for children ages 12 to 17.
The numbers will have stalled over the month of November, as the clinic for both testing and vaccinating was closed for a week while local health care workers focused on patient safety. Case rates have remained low over the past few weeks. The worst time in 2021 for Hope was late August, when there as a case rate of 40 per 100,000, which equalled a total number of 25 cases.
The COVID-19 testing and vaccination is held at Fraser Canyon Hospital on weekdays. Appointments can be made via Fraser Health.
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