B.C.'s top doctor says essential workers in hot spots to be vaccinated first

British Columbia's provincial health officer is calling for patience among essential workers waiting for a vaccine that's being prioritized for people in areas where COVID-19 transmission is highest.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says firefighters, police and paramedics are being vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines over the next few weeks alongside staff at schools and child-care centres.

She says certain neighbourhoods will also be targeted as the province's age-based program currently books people aged 65 and up for immunization, though the Pfizer vaccine has not been arriving as reliably as the one by Moderna.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is also being administered in a parallel program at pharmacies for people between the ages of 55 and 65 during the third wave of the pandemic, which has Dr. Henry asking people to stay in their own neighbourhoods.

The province recorded 3,289 cases over the last three days as active cases neared 10,000 and there were 18 more deaths.

A total of 368 people are currently hospitalized, with 121 of them in intensive care units as half the cases in the province now involve variants of concern, mostly the one first identified in the United Kingdom.