A public health order issued Monday by the provincial health officer in British Columbia requires schools to provide proof of vaccination records for their teachers.
All staff in B.C.’s public, independent, and francophone schools are covered by the policy, which includes sharing how many doses of vaccine an employee received and when they were vaccinated.
“The rapid rise in infection rates in British Columbia and the experience in other places have led me to conclude that additional measures are necessary in order to permit the school and public health systems to plan for and respond to clusters and outbreaks of Omicron in schools,” wrote provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), representing 45,000 teachers, swiftly responded to the new order, stating in a tweet it had not been consulted ahead of time or informed.
We are gathering information on the new #bcpoli PHO order to collect #bced staff vaccine status. We were not consulted or notified ahead of time.
— BCTF (@bctf) January 17, 2022
It is confusing as we have already agreed with BCPSEA to a vaccine mandate process and would like districts to implement those.