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A new public health order that can compel school staff to disclose their vaccination status to employers is unlikely to be used anytime soon in local schools or result in a vaccine mandate on the North Shore, say local school officials.
Teachers and school districts were caught off guard on Monday (Jan. 17) when a new public health order was posted, ordering school districts to provide aggregate information about the vaccination status of employees, if ordered to do so by a medical health officer.
But high vaccination rates among school staff in both North Vancouver and West Vancouver school districts mean it’s unlikely such an order would be made here, said local school officials.
One key point is there are varying levels of vaccination across the province, said North Vancouver schools superintendent Mark Pearmain.
He added it’s more likely that the orders requiring employees to disclose their vaccination status would be used in areas of the province with lower vaccination rates.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, the province’s medical health officer, said Tuesday the order was put in place to help some school districts that were having trouble getting information on staff vaccination rates and needed to decide on whether or not to put a vaccine mandate in place.
“We know that several school districts had challenges in obtaining this important information,” said Henry.
But Henry said decisions about vaccine mandates are still up to the local school district.
“It’s not about the [medical health officers] or me requiring an employer to make a mandate,” she said.
Both the North Vancouver and West Vancouver school districts have opted not to make vaccination mandatory for staff, like the vast majority of school districts in the province.
According to B.C.’s Centre for Disease Control, between 91 and 94 per cent of everyone eligible over 12 years old has been double vaccinated on the North Shore while between 38 and 42 per cent have been tripled vaccinated.
