British Columbians 60 or older now eligible for free rapid test kits

Rapid tests available to more in B.C. The B.C. government is making free COVID-19 rapid tests more available, expanding its age-based program to a new group.

British Columbians aged 60 and older can now get free COVID-19 rapid tests from participating pharmacies.

The Ministry of Health expanded the eligibility of its pharmacy program Monday, weeks after other provinces first made the move.

There are more than 1,000 participating locations across the province.

Those who are 60 and older will only need their personal health number to get a kit.

Each one has five tests and another kit can be picked up every four weeks, free of charge.

The province began offering rapid test kits to those aged 70 and older Feb. 25.

Eligibility is expected to expand further over the coming weeks, but officials have not provided a clear timeline.

Demand for the tests has been high, with many pharmacies running out of kits.

“It's been going pretty well, there's been a lot of good uptake on it. A lot of people really do want the rapid tests and I'd say at the majority of pharmacies, they're really just kind of flying out there for sure,” said Jamie Wigston, president of the BC Pharmacy Association.

However, he’s hopeful they’ll be restocked this week.

“The government has basically given out another million tests. So whereas we had about 800,000 in pharmacies last week,” said Wigston.

He anticipates the demand will be highest at the beginning of this week.

“Much like when they were doing the vaccines, there's a lot more demand right at the start when they were moving around the age groups,” he told CTV News.

Wigston says the current system is working well and believes pharmacies will be able to continue to distribute the kits as long as the demand is there.

“I think it's been really smooth just because it's a pretty simple process, pharmacy-wise. It just has to kind of be processed through the computer, you give it out, explain that there's a nice little handy card inside that goes step by step on how to do the process of using the rapid test,” he said.

Despite the shortages, he says most customers have been understanding and are abiding by the limits.

“Everyone knows that they're allowed to get the one kit every 28 days, and there's five tests within that kit. And really are just hoping not to want to use it, but it's just nice to have that just in case,” he explained.

The kits should only be picked up by those who are asymptomatic and are to be used at a future date or given to someone with symptoms.

“As of March 3, the Ministry of Health has shipped 3.9 million tests to pharmacy distributors,” said the ministry in a news release.

Of those, 1.8 million rapid tests have been shipped to community pharmacies throughout the province and as many as 583,000 have already been dispensed.