Seniors struggled with B.C.’s vaccine card rollout

Frustrated and anxious seniors needed help from community organizations to bridge the digital divide caused by British Columbia's hasty rollout of the vaccine card. The findings of a rapid evaluation project from Simon Fraser University's Science and Technology for Aging Researching (STAR) Institute and 411 Seniors Centre Society suggest the B.C. government didn't do enough consultation and provide enough support for seniors and older adults when it announced the BC Vaccine Card, a primarily digital proof-of-vaccination system, in September. "The seniors we connected with are independent folks who are very capable but the way the government rolled out the vaccine cards has made them feel inadequate," says Hannah Shin, a STAR community-based researcher, who conducted focus group discussions and one-on-one interviews with seniors. "The majority expressed that they felt frustrated and overwhelmed by the whole vaccine card process. For some older adults, their lack of digital literacy created a lot of anxiety and we learned that smaller organizations are having to pick up the pieces." The BC Vaccine Card is required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination for many social and recreational events, such as indoor dining, under public health orders. It generates a QR code that can be scanned to verify a person's vaccination status. While most people register online and use their mobile devices to display the card, the government did offer registration over the phone and gave people the option to print the QR code if they didn't have access to the right technology or needed assistance obtaining a card.