No vaccine mandate coming for teachers in Langley, board decides

Teachers and staff in schools in Langley will not be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, after the Langley Board of Education announced its decision on a vaccine mandate.

Langley is the latest board to say the benefits of the mandate don’t outweigh the risks.

“We know there are many layers of protection in our District and that schools are low-risk settings for transmission. Our public health experts have informed us the majority of COVID-19 exposures in schools are driven by transmission in community,” Langley Board of Education Rod Ross said in a release to parents issued Nov. 12.

Langley school district #35 has nearly 20 schools placed on the Fraser Health COVID-19 exposure list as of Saturday morning.

There are 19 schools listed on the exposure page for Fraser Health as of Nov. 13. There are no outbreaks, Fraser Health says.

The statement says it does support vaccinations for everyone in the community, and is working to encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated.

“Moving forward, we will be working with our employee partner groups and parent community to further promote vaccinations for staff and students,” Ross said.

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Currently, no school district has decided to bring in a vaccine mandate after the province announced they would not bring in a province-wide mandate despite support from many parents and the head of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation.

Surrey, the largest school district in the province also voted no on a vaccine mandate earlier this month.

Chilliwack school board announced last week it would not bring in a mandate after considering the “impact on students and staff from an equity and inclusive lens.”

The Fraser East region remains under heightened restrictions as a result of its low vaccination rates and high daily COVID-19 cases.

The northern districts have yet to come to a decision, but Dr. Bonnie Henry is urging them to do so given the region’s high case numbers.

The latest Situation Report for K-12 Schools in the province showed a rise in COVID-19 in children.

“Among 5-17 year-olds in BC, there have been 94 hospitalizations, 10 critical care admissions, and no deaths from January 2020 to October 12, 2021,” according to the report. 

There are more than 500,000 children under 12 in B.C. who are not yet eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but Health Canada says it is working on approving the Pfizer vaccine for that age group in the coming weeks.