Victoria Divisions of Family Practice

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Let’s all get immunized without delay

June 8, 2021

In a new series of videos, local family doctors encourage everyone to get fully vaccinated and help end the pandemic.

The Victoria Division of Family Practice is releasing several videos on YouTube and Facebook urging locals to get their vaccinations without delay. The videos address common concerns and false assumptions, and suggest that anybody on the fence gets their questions answered by a local family doctor.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there and as a consequence, vaccine hesitancy is a real concern in spite of the good progress with the vaccine roll-out,” says Dr Aaron Childs, family doctor with the Victoria Division of Family Practice. “With the highly transmissible ‘Delta’ COVID-19 variant present on the Island, it is crucially important for everyone to get both their first and second dose as soon as possible. Full vaccination will maximize protection against all strains and is our ticket to getting back to normal without setbacks.”           

While BC is not seeing the slow registration in the younger age group like Ontario has been experiencing, everyone who can is needed on board to reach herd immunity and defeat the virus.

“I’ve been having a lot of conversations on safety with patients,” says Dr Benjamin How, family doctor with the Victoria Division. “Because the new vaccines were developed so quickly, some people wonder if all the necessary steps were taken to test them. The fact is that vaccines approved in Canada are safe. The reason they could be developed so quickly is the unprecedented speed and volume of funding from several governments and the worldwide collaboration, which allowed for an accelerated process. All the necessary steps were completed. The clinical trials and safety reviews actually took about the same amount of time as for other vaccines.”

Dr Kathy Dabrus, family doctor with the Victoria Division, has a message for everyone who is tempted to wait and see how the COVID situation unfolds.  “There is no benefit in waiting,” she says. “The virus will be around for years to come and by waiting you increase your risk. The risks of the virus are significant, and far outweigh the possibility of serious side effects from any COVID vaccine. Your risk of dying from COVID is greatly reduced after the vaccination and your risk of transmission goes down 90 per cent. Not only are we safe, we’re also making our communities safe.”

The videos will be shared on the Victoria Division of Family Practice’s website, YouTube channel and Facebook page and include:

Anybody with vaccination questions or concerns should contact a local family doctor for answers. Family doctors always keep up with the latest evidence and can help clarify the benefits and any individual risks. For example, if a patient has had a recent kidney transplant, a family doctor may recommend a shorter gap between doses than for a healthy individual.

Victoria residents without a family doctor are encouraged to visit the Pathways Medical Care Directory and find out where to access a local family doctor. The directory provides information on local walk-in clinics and Urgent and Primary Care Centres where they can connect with a community physician.

A comprehensive list of answers to general COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions is available from Immunize BC. 

Media contact:
Ute Kranefeld
ukranefeld@divisionsbc.ca
250-884-6013

FPSCBritish ColumbiaDoctors of BC

The Divisions of Family Practice acknowledge that we work on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of many different Indigenous Nations throughout British Columbia.

Acknowledging that we are on the traditional territories of Indigenous communities is an expression of cultural humility and involves recognizing our duty and desire to support the provision of culturally safe care to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in BC.