The Globe and Mail Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
Getting audio file . This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy. Full Disclaimer
Don Craig /Province of British Columbia
Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer, has spent more than a decade trying to persuade those working in care homes and other front-line health workers to get the flu vaccine – a campaign that now must pivot to the effort to protect vulnerable seniors from the deadly COVID-19 virus.
British Columbia brought in a policy twenty years ago that allowed health care workers to be sent home without pay during an influenza outbreak if they refused to be vaccinated or to take anti-viral treatment. At the time, the majority of staff in long-term care facilities refused to get the flu shot, even though influenza is a serious risk to the residents they care for.
Article content
Health-care workers who decline the COVID-19 vaccination will need to continue to follow strict guidelines around health checks and the use of personal protective equipment, according to the B.C. Ministry of Health.
In a statement Friday, the ministry said B.C. doesn’t have mandatory immunization programs, including for the COVID-19 vaccine, but health-care workers are being “encouraged” to get it.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or COVID-19 vaccine not mandatory, health-care workers encouraged to get it Back to video
The statement said the vaccine provides “good protection for seniors, meaning they are protected regardless of the health-care worker’s immunization.”
There are 51 active outbreaks in long-term care and assisted-living facilities in B.C. as of Thursday, as well as 10 in acute care. The outbreaks involve 2,333 people, including 1,501 residents and 752 staff with active cases.
A survey of B.C. care workers conducted in December found that 57 per cent of workers planned to get the vaccine, while 28 per cent were unsure and 15 per cent didn’t intend to get it.
Conducted by SafeCare B.C., the survey was disseminated to care workers through both the B.C. Nurses’ Union and the B.C. Government Employees’ Union, and had received 1,500 replies as of Dec. 18.
VANCOUVER Weeks after long-term care staffers and health-care workers began receiving COVID-19 vaccinations, B.C. doctors are raising concerns about a slowdown in the process, but Fraser Health isn’t addressing them. Dr. Kathleen Ross, the former president of the Doctors of B.C., questioned the abrupt shutdown of a vaccination centre in New Westminster, revealing she didn’t know if it would resume. “After rapidly vaccinating over 1,200 frontline health-care providers in just under three days at (Royal Columbian Hospital), the process was shut down by (Fraser Health Wednesday night). No word on when we will protect our frontliners despite rising cases,” she tweeted to nearly 1,700 followers while tagging Fraser Health officials.
Vaccine-hesitant care-home workers present a major challenge for public-health advocates Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
Getting audio file . This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy. Full Disclaimer
Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Large numbers of workers in Canada’s long-term care homes are hesitant to be vaccinated, raising concerns about the effectiveness of efforts to protect vulnerable seniors.
While employers cannot compel workers to be vaccinated, public-health advocates are searching for ways to persuade staff in care homes to accept that the vaccines for COVID-19 are safe and effective.