Dr. Bonnie Henry

British Columbia's top doctor says health-care workers in long-term care facilities and intensive care units will be the first to be immunized against COVID-19 with the Pfizer vaccine starting next week.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says immunizations will happen at two clinics in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions, before eventually expanding to 30 sites as part of a process that will ramp up as more doses and vaccines become available.

Up to 400,000 B.C. residents can get a shot in the arm by the end of March. Henry says prioritizing those who work at care homes will protect the elderly, who can't travel to sites where the vaccine must be administered because it needs to be kept at a very cold temperature.

Dr. Henry says a dry run at one clinic yesterday on handling the vaccine allowed people running the vaccination program as well as those who would be working with it to grasp the reality of having it available.

She says precautions such as washing hands and wearing masks will need to continue for a few months, though she expects a "good summer" is on the horizon.