All B.C. health care workers soon required to be fully vaccinated

All provincially regulated healthcare workers in B.C. will be required to be fully vaccinated by March 24.

Those working in acute care and long-term care are already required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but the province announced in the fall that the requirement would be updated to include all healthcare workers, including dentists, acupuncturists, pharmacists, physio, midwives, and chiropractors.

On Wednesday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced the expanded mandate. She explained the move was made to ensure “we have a consistent, supported standard across health care so that all regulated health professionals are held to the same standard.”

The province will be taking a phased approach to give those who have not yet been vaccinated time to get their dose.

Henry adds a process will be available for people with medical exemptions that can be submitted to her office.

“Colleges will then work with the registrants who are unvaccinated to support them through this process,” she added.


Henry calls this requirement one of the “most important measures” that will allow the province to make it through the Omicron wave which has caused rate of high hospitalizations, “and will help protect us from the unknowns that are certain to happen in the coming year.”

When it comes to a timetable for lifting restrictions, Henry says B.C. is in a different place, and health officials are monitoring the situation locally and will adjust measures in accordance to what they see.

“This will be a gradual process, finding that balance over this next phase of transition in the next few months and weeks.”

Current B.C. gathering restrictions are set to expire next week on Feb. 16 at 11:59 p.m., but the province has extended restrictions in the past, often with very little notice

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Saskatchewan was the first province in Canada to announce a plan to lift all COVID-19 restrictions. The province will no longer require that people provide vaccine passports starting Monday. It is also ending its indoor mask mandate at the end of the month.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday his government will follow the lead of other Canadian provinces and immediately start phasing out COVID-19 health restrictions. He said the plan’s first step will see vaccine passports to access non-essential businesses, such as restaurants and bars.

Québec will loosen specific public health measures across the province by March 14, except for mask mandates and the vaccine passport system.

Last week Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said the Doug Ford government would need to reassess the value of the vaccine certificate system in the coming weeks and months.

In the meantime, businesses that don’t normally serve food like bars and nightclubs in B.C. have gotten clarification of what they need to do to be able to reopen and serve “full meal and service.” This will include appetizers, main courses and desserts, but not only appetizers, tapas, desserts or snacks.

These businesses can partner with one or more catering partners, keep a copy of all catering agreements on the premises, and provide copies to an enforcement officer on request. Through a full-meal service, the bar or nightclub will need to offer full menus, take meal orders, serve meals, receive payment, keep a record of the meal sales, and have them available for enforcement officers. Food can not be served more than three hours before ending liquor service.

Hospitalizations significantly drop, 18 dead

There are 93 fewer people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the hospital since Tuesday. There is a total of 893 hospitalizations. 

Three less people in intensive care for a total of 143. 

Eighteen people have died in the past 24 hours. Four lived in Fraser Health, five in Vancouver Coastal, two in the Interior, two in Northern and five in Island. 

The province recorded 1,187 new COVID-19 cases. However, the actual number of new cases is likely much higher as testing demand exceeds supply.

There is one new health-care facility outbreak at Sidney All Care. And two outbreaks at Louis Brier Home and Hospital and Victoria General Hospital are now over. There are 54 active outbreaks in the province’s long-term, acute care, and assisted living facilities. Details are available online.

Meanwhile, active cases, and updates on people who are isolated in the province will be removed from the daily COVID-19 statements and the dashboard on the BC CDC website, Henry added. She said these are no longer an accurate reflection of what’s happening in the community.

“We’ve changed our testing strategy to focus on those people who need a test because it affects their health management or because it’s important for them in terms of returning to work … It’s a change because of the changing strategies and how we’re dealing with what we’re faced with right now,” she explained.

– With files from Lucas Casaletto

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