The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, commonly known as Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), is a regional public health authority in British Columbia, Canada.
COVID-19
In March 2021, people who had recovered from COVID-19 within the prior three months were not eligible for a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine product.[1]
In January 2022, VCH distributed rapid antigen tests for at-home SARS-CoV-2 testing. Guidance included with these tests instruct individuals who test positive to report their case to the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), and not to seek a “confirmatory PCR test”.[2]
VCH was awarded the 2024 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) for "for routinely breaking access to information laws during COVID-19," which, "in turn, jeopardized the public’s trust in the health-care system.[3]
Organization
The Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) is the research arm of VCH and a health partner of the University of British Columbia (UBC).
Publications
- March 30, 2021: COVID-19 Vaccine Information
VCH COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign Intergrated (sic) Operating Committee. (2021, March 22). First dose COVID-19 vaccine available for psychologists providing direct care. College of Psychologists of British Columbia. https://collegeofpsychologists.bc.ca/email/210322-Memo-Vaccine-eligibility-for-psychologists[3].pdf ↩︎
What to do after your COVID-19 rapid test. Vancouver Coastal Health. Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://www.campfire.wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=vch_-_what_to_do_after_your_covid-19_rapid_test.pdf ↩︎
Hainsworth, J. (2025, May 21). Vancouver Coastal Health wins secrecy award. Vancouver Is Awesome. http://archive.today/2025.07.28-192641/https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/vancouver-coastal-health-wins-secrecy-award-10686532 ↩︎
