Yukon to send COVID-19 vaccine doses to nearby Atlin, B.C. - Action News
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Yukon to send COVID-19 vaccine doses to nearby Atlin, B.C.

Yukon will be sharing its doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with neighbours in Atlin, B.C. Vaccination clinics for priority groups will be held in the community next week.

200 doses to be shipped from Whitehorse for clinics in Atlin next week

Two hundred doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped from Whitehorse to Atlin, B.C., ahead of vaccination clinics in the community on Wednesday and Thursday. (N.W.T. Department of Health and Social Services)

Yukon will be sharing its doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with neighbours in Atlin, B.C.

The community is unusualin that it can only be reached by road from Yukon. It's about a two-hour drive away from Whitehorse.

B.C.'s Northern Health, the B.C. First Nations Health Authority and the government of Yukon announced in a news release on Friday that immunization clinics will be held in Atlinon Jan. 27 and 28.

The news release says handling requirements for the vaccine, along with Atlin's remote location, makelogisitics a challenge.

"[Atlin]is part of our northern health authority's jurisdiction and our region, but that said, it is in a location that lends itself, I think, to some affiliation with the Yukon," said Eryn Collins of Northern Health.

The northern B.C. community is only accessible by road from Yukon. (CBC)

Two hundred doses of the Moderna vaccine will be shipped from Whitehorse to Atlinahead of next week'sclinics. Those clinics will focus on priority groups such as elders, seniors, health care workers and the medically vulnerable.

Atlin residents who are eligible for the first round of inoculations will be contacted directly and offered an appointment.

People are also encouraged to contact the Atlin Health Centreor the Taku River Tlingit First Nation health team directly beginning on Monday, Jan. 25, if they have questions or live without telephone access.

Yukon began its own community vaccination clinics last week, with two mobile vaccine teams travelling across the territory over the coming weeks.

The territory has so far received 14,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine, with more expected to arrive in February.

With files from Philippe Morin