The province stood firm on its vaccine mandate for health-care workers on Tuesday, as a Port Alberni pediatrician was stripped of his hospital privileges after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Dr. Chris McCollister, who has worked in the town since 1997 and is one of two pediatricians in the area, is unable to work out of the town’s hospital, where he would typically deal with anything from attending an emergency C-section to handling a pediatric mental-health crisis.
All health-care workers in the province were required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 26. Visitors to long-term care and assisted living residences and acute-care facilities must also be vaccinated.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said other than those with medical exemptions, for which there’s a process, health-care workers in the province must be fully vaccinated, and 98 per cent have done so.
“It’s obviously not desirable to lose anybody in any position in health care, least of which someone who’s clearly got a lot of support locally, but the rule is going to apply to everybody, and it’s going to apply here,” said Dix.
McCollister has said people should be able to make their own decision about the vaccine.
Asked about the province’s plan to prioritize deliveries of Johnson and Johnson vaccine next week for health-care workers hesitant about other vaccines already offered in Canada, McCollister said he is researching another vaccine called Novavax. The Maryland-based company recently applied to Health Canada for approval of the vaccine.
By Tuesday, 4,000 people had signed an online petition to Dix asking that the pediatrician be allowed to continue doing his job.
Candice Servatius, the woman behind the petition, said she worked with McCollister for about 15 years and he is her children’s pediatrician.
“He is a precious resource to our community and has helped and supported hundreds of families in our community,” said Servatius, noting that it’s difficult to attract doctors to rural areas.
Servatius warned that suspending McCollister’s hospital privileges will have a devastating impact on babies and mothers needing C-sections, which require a pediatrician to be present. She said McCollister attended two of her three emergency C-sections.
One daughter was born prematurely and needed assistance breathing and McCollister played a big part in her care for the first couple of days, she said.
“Without his support she would not have been able to remain at the hospital with me and would have been sent off to a bigger hospital that is an hour away,” she wrote.
On Nov. 5 Danielle McCollister on social media thanked petition signatories for their support of her husband, known as Dr. Chris. “He truly loves children and families,” wrote Danielle McCollister. “Thanks for standing for him and with him.”
