The President of the Kamloops-Thompson Teachers Association is waiting to see when teachers in the school district will be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Laurel Macpherson says it is something the BC Teachers Federation is working on, noting she feels teachers should be prioritized.

“There is that level of anxiety. You have to stay in your household and you can’t meet with your extended family but you’re with 20 to 30 other individuals every single day,” she told NL News. “So on some level it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that teachers aren’t a higher priority.”

“You’re with 30 different people and it would make the most sense that people who have the biggest bubbles should be vaccinated first but I don’t see that happening with teachers which is unfortunate.”

Teachers in the province are considered a second priority group and are part of the second phase of vaccinations which is due to take place in the spring.

Speaking during a COVID-19 briefing last week, B.C.’s top doctor says there have been discussions across the country on when people in key professions like firefighters, teachers, and childcare workers can get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says the province’s strategy will be to get as as many people vaccinated against COVID-19 as quickly as possible.

“Right now our priorities as you’ve seen deal with the vaccine that we think we’re going to get in quarter one and the people that we can immunize with that vaccine which is long term care, critical care healthcare workers, isolated and remote communities, particularly First Nations communities and people in the community over the age of 80,” she said.

As of last Friday, B.C. had vaccinated 46,259 people against COVID-19. Henry says the province plans to administer about 792,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines through the end of March, though that remains contingent on when shipments of the vaccine arrives.

She noted the logistical details of B.C.’s vaccination roll out plan are still being worked out, and more details are expected later this month.

“After March, we are expecting to get more vaccines, different vaccines, and more volume of vaccines and we have not yet put out our strategy for the second quarter and into the summer and fall of 2021,” Henry added.

Henry noted that Health Canada is reviewing both the AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines, adding B.C. officials are hopeful they will be approved for use during the first quarter of 2021.