B.C. pharmacy investigated for allegedly helping people fake vaccine records

A pharmacy in B.C.’s Lower Mainland is being investigated for allegedly helping unvaccinated individuals sneak their names into the province’s COVID-19 vaccine registry.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said the matter remains under investigation, but that the Burnaby business is no longer participating in the government’s immunization program.

The province has also suspended the pharmacy’s ability to bill through Pharmacare, which is a rarely used measure allowed under the Pharmaceutical Services Act.

If any pharmacists are found to have entered people into B.C.’s vaccine system without actually providing them with vaccine, there will be “very serious consequences,” Dix said.

“This is serious business,” the minister said at a news conference Friday. “People have the right to their views, but you have to behave in an appropriate manner.”

The minister wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the province’s investigation, but said one red flag would be for a pharmacy to begin routinely providing vaccinations to people who live more than 100 kilometres away from its location.

“Say you drive by 50 pharmacies to go to a particular pharmacy, and then a lot of people do that, that would be an unusual result. That’s the kind of thing you could determine through our systems very easily,” Dix said.

It’s unclear whether there could also be consequences for unvaccinated individuals who took part in the alleged scheme, but officials did not rule out that possibility.

The B.C. Pharmacy Association told CTV News that it supports the government’s investigation, calling the integrity of the province’s vaccine program “extremely important.”

“The COVID-19 vaccine helps keep our communities safe. British Columbians should know that when an individual is identifying themselves as fully vaccinated, that they are indeed fully vaccinated,” a spokesperson said in an email.

Proof of vaccination is still required for dining in restaurants, attending sporting events and doing a number of other discretionary activities in the province, though officials are expected to relax those rules early next month.