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order in place forcing b.c. health care professionals to disclose covid-19 vaccination status

as of april 1, all health care professionals must be vaccinated or they can't work

the provincial health officer has posted a new provincial health order mandating health care professionals report their vaccination status to their colleges and for that information to be shared with the health ministry by month’s end.

dr. bonnie henry had previously made an announcement in early 2022 that all health care professionals would need to be vaccinated to work, but the latest order stops short of setting a deadline for that requirement.
the latest order requires all health care professionals from across a range of fields to report their vaccination status to their respective colleges. those colleges will then be required to share the information with the ministry, which will verify the information against their vaccination registry.
according to a statement released on monday night, henry notified colleges regulating health professionals on march 4 that the order was to be posted shortly.
“under the order, registrants for whom vaccination status is not found must provide vaccinations records to their college by march 31, 2022. colleges will be needed to disclose the vaccine status information of their registrants on request by the pho or medical health officers,” the statement read.
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the order applies to nurses and midwives, chiropractors, dental hygienists, dental technicians, dental surgeons, denturists, dietitians, massage therapists, naturopaths, occupational therapists, optometrists, pharmacists, physical therapists, physicians and surgeons, psychologists, speech and hearing professionals and traditional chinese medicine practitioners.
henry says the order, that has no expiry date, will not be reconsidered.
in the order, henry states that “to prevent or reduce the risk of the transmission of infection with (covid-19) by health professionals i believe it is necessary for me to collect personal information about registrants at colleges.”
each college is responsible for gathering that information, which is then forwarded to the pho and b.c. ministry of health.
henry said very few people would be given a medical exemption from vaccination.
the new order follows last month’s announcement when provincial health officer dr. bonnie henry said all regulated health professionals vaccinated with one dose before march 24 could continue to work only if they received a second dose within 35 days.
the latest statement from the health ministry does not list any consequences for workers who refuse to share their vaccination status by the end of the month, and does not list any date for implementing any consequences for those who are not fully vaccinated.
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last month, henry said she was hopeful that vaccine hesitant people — including health workers — would take up the new novavax vaccine as an alternative to mrna vaccines like pfizer and moderna.
—with files from canadian press

correction: an earlier version of this story stated that health care professionals would not be permitted to work beginning april 1, 2022, if not fully vaccinated. in fact, no definitive date has been set.

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