The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) sent a follow-up letter lobbying the provincial government to provide free shingles, RSV and high-dose flu vaccines to seniors.
CARP has a membership of more than 3,000 seniors in Surrey/White Rock and 20,000 province-wide. The organization sent the follow-up letter on December 13 to Premier David Eby and Health Minister Adrian Dix, lobbying them for free vaccinations as their cost is prohibitive for seniors living on low and fixed incomes.
According to ImmunizeBC, the shingles vaccine costs around $160/ dose and is given in a series of 2 doses, 2 to six months apart.
Ramona Kaptyn, a Surrey resident and CARP BC’s chief advocacy and communications officer, noted previous letters were sent in June and September. CARP did receive a reply from Maryna Korchagina, assistant deputy minister of population & public health, on Aug. 31.
Korchagina told CARP “the matter” would be investigated, but they have not heard from her since.
“To show true leadership, it would be helpful if the BC Government followed the lead of other provinces and particularly matched Ontario’s policy to provide free RSV immunization to all seniors,” Kaptyn said.
The Now-Leader reached out to the Ministry of Health for comment. A spokesperson for the ministry of health provided an emailed statement.
“Before offering a publicly funded RSV immunization program, in B.C. we are waiting for NACI to publish its recommendations on the use of RSV vaccines and for review by the BC Immunization committee.”
The ministry added, “We also know the uptake for the publicly funded RSV vaccine in long-term care homes in Ontario has been low. It is still available for purchase in B.C. until we have enough evidence to make an informed decision for B.C.”
“Shingles vaccines are not presently part of B.C.’s publicly funded immunization program for the general population; however, to best support British Columbians, the publicly funded immunization program is regularly reviewed to consider changes and additions,” added the ministry of health.
Starting in October 2022, PharmaCare started paying pharmacies $11.41 for administering non-publicly funded vaccines, such as Shingrix. “While this does not cover the cost of the vaccine, it reduces out-of-pocket costs for the patient,” the ministry noted.
While the high-dose quadrivalent flu vaccine is not free for most seniors in B.C., Fluad is for free for all adults 65 years or older. The Fluzone high-dose quadrivalent vaccine is free to adults 65 years or older living in long-term care homes or First Nations communities.
“Both of these enhanced influenza vaccines are recommended for this age group. There is not enough evidence to show that one of these enhanced vaccines is better than the other,” noted the ministry.
“All recommendations concerning vaccine use and program delivery in British Columbia are made by our provincial public health and immunization experts to assess and advise whether a vaccine should be added to B.C.’s publicly funded program,” the ministry added.
“Our provincial public health experts consider a comprehensive range of factors when developing recommendations including burden of illness, vaccine efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness, implementation feasibility, ethics and equity. The Ministry then reviews these recommendations in the context of other health system priorities.”
-With files from Tom Zytaruk
