With just one week to go before B.C.'s broader COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health-care workers comes into effect, about 5,500 employees have yet to receive their first dose.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said that number doesn't include unvaccinated workers from long-term care homes and assisted living facilities, who were forced from their jobs on Oct. 12 when the province imposed its mandate in those settings.
Those who are waiting for a medical exemption claim to be assessed have been allowed to remain at work under additional precautions.
The 5,512 workers from hospitals and other health-care settings who remain unvaccinated – and who represent four percent of the 129,924 employees facing the expanded mandate – have until Oct. 26 to get their first dose to avoid facing the same consequences.
"We're hopeful, of course, that people will move to get vaccinated and comply with the upcoming order," Dix said.
A full 93 per cent of those health-care workers – or 121,048 people – are already fully vaccinated, and another three per cent have had their first shot.
"Essentially what we're seeing with the 96 per cent mark is a very similar number to what we saw in assisted living and in long-term care," Dix noted.
When the vaccine mandate for long-term care and assisted living took effect last week, 1,955 of the 48,879 affected workers across B.C. were unvaccinated, including a number of casual employees.
Officials have said they can return to work, but only seven days after receiving their first dose, and with a commitment to receive their second within 35 days.
Some in the long-term care industry raised concerns about the staffing impacts of the mandate, and the strain imposed on vaccinated employees who remain at work, but officials said the province has been working with operators on a "home-by-home basis" to ensure residents are receiving proper care.
Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry have also stressed that COVID-19 outbreaks in health-care facilities, which increased over the summer amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, have also been a major burden on staff.
They have also had deadly consequences for vulnerable residents and patients, whose bodies are sometimes less capable of mounting a strong antibody response even after vaccination.
"We know these are settings where transmission causes strain on the system if health-care workers are infected, but also can mean transmission to those who are most vulnerable to severe illness," Henry said last week.
"Few know better than those working in long-term care and assisted living what the impact of COVID-19 has been on our seniors and elders."
More than 5500 B.C. health-care workers still unvaccinated as deadline nears - CTV News Vancouver
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