‘I feel pretty liberated’: How UBC students access PrEP

Alexander Tsang, a third-year Sauder student, started using PrEP in summer 2020 after a Grindr hookup.

“It was pretty sketchy,” he recalled of the hookup.

Tsang, who is from Vancouver, said he contacted a few clinics around the city before he was able to get on PrEP through the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).

“It was hard to find the right people. But eventually, the people that I did contact sent me to the correct places.”

For Tsang and many other Queer people who have sex with men, taking PrEP is a way for them to feel safer when hooking up.

“I feel pretty liberated,” Tsang said. “Because we have a whole generation of gays that are dead [because of HIV]. I don’t actually have to suffer that.” He has since stopped taking PrEP because he is now in a monogamous relationship.

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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
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