Teams of nurses will blitz through Vancouver’s poorest neighbourhood next week to vaccinate homeless and other vulnerable people against the H1N1 virus, Vancouver Coastal Health said yesterday.
Many of the people in the Downtown Eastside suffer from underlying medical conditions that make them more susceptible to H1N1, said Anna Marie D’Angelo, a spokeswoman for the health authority.
“They’re deemed a priority group and will be among the first vaccinated,” D’Angelo said.
Health Canada announced yesterday that they had approved a vaccine for H1N1.
Three teams of nurses and volunteers will visit SROs, gathering places, hotels and shelters offering the H1N1 vaccine.
A similar blitz for seasonal flu and pneumococcal (pneumonia) vaccines last year, immunized about 2,500 people.
D’Angelo said the blitz, which is aiming to vaccinate even more people this year, would last about three or four weeks.
