Vaccination against COVID-19 will be mandatory for all workers in health-care facilities in B.C., and about 15,000 severely immune-compromised British Columbians will get booster shots starting this week, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced Monday.
The vaccine mandate will come into effect on Oct. 26 for everyone from doctors and nurses to students, volunteers and contractors working in venues ranging from hospitals to patients’ homes. Details of the order will be published soon, said Henry. “It’s going to be a condition of employment.”
The mandate comes as the province reported 1,984 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend including 220 in Island Health. Six-hundred and seven of the 5,825 active cases in the province are on Vancouver Island.
Henry said there will be a process to review requests for a medical or religious exemption from vaccination, and those workers could be reassigned to other duties and regularly tested.
Those who choose not to be immunized might have to take leave without pay, said Henry.
Only a small number of the more than 100,000 people working with patients in the province are believed to be unvaccinated, said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix.
Henry said the province consulted with health-care unions through the Health Employers Association of B.C., and professional organizations and colleges prior to the announcement of the vaccine mandate.
“There is a lot of support for this, recognizing the impact this virus is having on us individually, but also on our health-care system,” she said. “It is something that has been in the works for some time.”
The Doctors of B.C. reports that the vaccination rate amongst physicians is 96 to 97 per cent, while the B.C. Nurses’ Union says it’s in the high-80 to 90 per cent for nurses, said Henry.
Workers in B.C. long-term care and assisted living facilities — about 49,000 workers — are already required to be immunized by Oct. 12. Henry signalled at the time that was announced that a similar mandate was in the works for all health-care workers. The latest move prevents workers in long-term care from transferring to acute-care settings to avoid the vaccine mandate for seniors’ homes.
The Hospital Employees’ Union, which has workers in both long-term care and hospitals, said Monday’s announcement was “not unexpected.”
The vast majority of health-care workers have been vaccinated, said union spokesman Mike Old. The union is asking those who have not received the vaccine to seek out credible sources of information about COVID‑19 vaccines and get their questions answered.
COVID-19 vaccines have been proven safe and effective — “and they’ve been a game changer in our health-care system,” said Old. “We encourage all health workers to get the vaccine if they’re medically able to do so.”
Old noted that Monday was the last day that long-term care and assisted-living workers could get their first dose of the vaccine and still meet the Oct. 12 deadline. The minimum recommended interval between first and second doses is 28 days.
Henry also announced Monday that a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine will be given to people with medical conditions that compromise their immune system — about 300,000 people in B.C. — starting this week with about 15,000 people categorized as severely immune-compromised because they’ve had organ transplants or are being treated for blood cancers. They will be contacted this week to arrange the shots, said Henry.
Late this month or in October, an update will be provided on boosters for the next group — about 120,000 moderately immune-compromised people.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunizations is reviewing the need for booster shots in seniors in long-term care and assisted living. “I suspect that will be the next group we’ll be looking at,” said Henry, adding she hopes the booster schedule for seniors homes aligns with the influenza-shot rollout in October.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said 121 of 139 people in hospital intensive care units around B.C. were unvaccinated Monday.
The province announced nine more deaths from COVID-19 over the weekend, two of whom were in Island Health.
