Key takeaways:
- Central Okanagan school board votes 5-2 in acceptance of necessity after controversial public meeting online.
- Teachers and support staff in some BC school communities will be needed to show verification of vaccination or otherwise receive regular tests for COVID-19 in the forthcoming weeks.
Schools in BC will mandate vaccine proof for teachers and staff:
School District 59 in Dawson Creek has become the latest British Columbia to enforce a required vaccine policy for teachers and staff.
The district declared the policy on Jan. 25 after having a closed board meeting on Jan. 19, where the judgment was driven.
“The fitness and safety of staff and students were at the forefront of this conclusion,” stated board chair Chad Anderson and assistant superintendent Mike Readman in a penned statement published on the district website. Source – cbc.ca
If staff does not deliver vaccination verification, the district states that they will have to take part in routine rapid testing as a need to work.
The policy will not be enforced for at least six weeks.
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The district is the fourth region to declare a compulsory vaccination policy, following similar conclusions in Delta, Revelstoke, and Nelson.
None of the guidelines apply to students.
Individual community judgment
The judgment over whether to demand school staff to be vaccinated in British Columbia is left up to individual districts’ control.
Many, including Surrey, Vancouver, Victoria, and Prince George, have opted against such approaches, suggesting high community vaccination rates, staff privacy considerations, and the prospect for staff losses resulting from the order.
