Mass COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Vancouver Convention Centre closing next week due to less demand

People prepare vaccine doses at the Vancouver Convention Centre's clinic in this undated image.

A massive COVID-19 clinic in downtown Vancouver will close next week as demand for boosters lessens.

Vancouver Coastal Health said the clinic at the Vancouver Convention Centre will stop operations after Sunday.

The clinic first opened in March 2021 when B.C. was first ramping up its vaccine rollout. In August, as many British Columbians had already received their second shots, the clinic closed.

In January, as the booster campaign expanded, the clinic reopened with capacity to give thousands of immunizations each day.

However, on Thursday, only about 600 vaccine doses were distributed at that location. When the clinic reopened at the start of the year, VCH said, teams were administering almost 10 times that amount, at about 5,900 per day.

"VCH continues to regularly monitor vaccination clinic operations, resources and demand, and to adjust our approach based on community needs," the health authority said in a statement.

"Resources from this clinic will be redirected to other healthcare services, including targeted outreach efforts in specific communities and to support other vaccination clinics."

Smaller vaccine clinics remain open, VCH said. Details on those locations and their hours are available on the health authority's website.

As of Thursday, more than 4.5 million people aged five and older in B.C. have received one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Nearly 4.3 million have had their second dose. Just over half of British Columbians aged 12 and older have also gotten a booster dose.