Vancouver Convention Centre Opens Community Vaccination Site

The Vancouver Convention Centre is collaborating with Vancouver Coastal Health and other partners to welcome its community to receive their COVID-19 vaccination at a new Vaccination Clinic located in the facility’s East building. As a Community Partner of the Government of British Columbia’s COVID-19 Immunisation Plan, this clinic opened March 29th.

Operated by Vancouver Coastal Health, the Vaccination Clinic at the Vancouver Convention Centre is part of a new partnership with the Government of British Columbia that will employ venues and workers from across the province's tourism, hospitality and sport sectors to support the next phase of B.C.’s COVID-19 Immunisation Plan. The initiative will create more than 1,400 working opportunities and provide much-needed support to some of the province’s hardest hit industries.

“PavCo is proud to support British Columbians during the COVID-19 pandemic through hosting a community vaccination site at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The health and safety of everyone coming through our doors is our top priority. Our team has made every effort to ensure our spaces are safe so members of the public feel confident when they arrive for their appointment. We look forward to welcoming the public into our facilities and continuing to contribute economic and community benefits to the people of B.C,” said Ken Cretney, President and CEO, B.C. Pavilion Corporation.

This initiative marks an expansion of the Convention Centre’s role in support of British Columbia’s response to the pandemic. In addition to the ongoing hosting of an Alternate Care Site (ACS), which remains ready to be operationalized for patient intake, should it be required, the facility has partnered with the Provincial Health Services Authority and BC Centre Disease Control to host their COVID-19 Rapid Response Team for contact tracing, relaying test results, and a site for test-processing. The facility has been able to accommodate these pandemic response initiatives as well as certain modified business activations thanks to comprehensive enhancements to health and safety implemented in response to the emergence of COVID-19.

Together with PavCo and the Vancouver Convention Centre, eleven additional organizations across the province have joined the effort as part of Phase 3 of British Columbia’s COVID-19 Immunization Plan. Community partners in this program include:

• Air Canada
• Ceres Terminals Canada
• Canadian Red Cross
• Fraser Valley Bandits
• Pacific Destination Services
• Pacific National Exhibition
• Tourism Whistler
• Vancouver Canucks
• Vancouver Giants
• Vancouver International Airport
• WestJet

In addition to its ongoing partnerships with the Government of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health, the Convention Centre has worked with a number of industry and community partners to execute on these initiatives including Ceres Terminals Canada, Warrington PCI and Port of Vancouver as well as official service providers Riggit Services Inc., BEST Service Pros., Bell Canada and Encore Canada.

After extensive consultation with health authorities and other partners, the Convention Centre has implemented a comprehensive safety plan to help inform current and future activity held at the facility. Recently the facility also earned the Global Biorisk Advisory Council® (GBAC) STAR™ accreditation for outbreak prevention, response, and recovery, further strengthening its commitment to the health and safety of its staff, clients, and guests.