BC Lifts Vaccine Mandate for Health Workers, Says Emergency Over

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry speaks during a COVID-19 update in the press theatre at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on March 10, 2022. Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press

B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has lifted public health emergency orders, allowing the 2,000 health-care workers who lost their jobs for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine to return to work.

Dr. Henry announced July 26 the province was ending the public health emergency and “rescinding all related orders,” including the vaccine mandate imposed on health-care workers in 2021.

British Columbia had been in a “public health emergency” since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 virus, she said.

“While COVID-19 is not gone, we now have high levels of protection in the health-care system and in communities throughout B.C.,” Dr. Henry said in a statement.

The province said the risk posed by COVID-19 is “reduced” and that testing data shows the virus has levelled off. The number of people in intensive care and hospitals is also lower and stable and there is a better level of protection for the public through vaccines, Dr. Henry said.

“We are now at the point where I am confident we can continue to manage COVID-19 without the need for the public-health emergency,” she said.

The move makes B.C. the last of the provinces to revoke its vaccine-related mandates.

Along with lifting the mandates, the provincial government is making it mandatory for health-care workers to disclose their immunization status for various diseases. The roughly 2,000 health-care workers who lost their jobs will have to disclose their vaccination status to return to work.

“Moving forward, all health-care workers in public health-care facilities must report their immunization for COVID-19 and influenza and their immune status for other critical vaccine preventable diseases,” a July 26 provincial government news release said.

The government said the move will allow for “quick action” in the event of an exposure, outbreak, or future pandemic.

“By shifting to a new requirement for health-care workers to report their immune status for key vaccine preventable diseases including COVID-19, we are continuing to take actions that keep people safe, support a healthy workforce, and a strong health-care system,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said in the release.

Mandatory reporting will begin immediately. Health-care workers are required to report their vaccination status for COVID-19 and influenza, the government said. They must also report if they have been vaccinated or have previously had measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, whooping cough, or chicken pox.

Some B.C. mayors have been calling for the province to end the vaccine mandates, citing health worker shortages. Their request has been echoed by the official Opposition B.C. United as well as the B.C. Conservatives.

“Over two years ago, I called for unvaccinated health-care workers to be returned back to the health system to help us deal with the crisis of emergency rooms closing all over the province,” United Party Leader Kevin Falcon said in a social media video.

Conservative Leader John Rustad said the orders were dropped as a political move.

“This is a decision that is simply being made because we’re three months out to an election and the NDP are worried,” he said in a July 26 video posted on X.

Minister Dix dismissed suggestions that the timing was political, while Dr. Henry said her determination had “nothing to do with any of the decisions of government or other factors in that sense.”

“There is an obligation under the Public Health Act for me to lift orders as soon as reasonably possible when the conditions are no longer met,” Dr. Henry said.

Court documents from a B.C. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that upheld the province’s vaccine rules said approximately 1,800 health-care workers lost their jobs over the vaccine mandate.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.