In Delta, B.C., all school district employees will now be required to provide their COVID-19 vaccination status.
The staff have six weeks from next Monday to disclose whether or not they are immunized against COVID-19.
In a statement, the school district said it was directed by the board of education “to create, implement and amend as necessary, a Proof of Vaccination Regarding COVID-19 Operations Procedure to help protect the health and safety of both staff and students.”
Staff who are unvaccinated or who fail to disclose their vaccination status by the deadline will be required to undergo regular rapid testing in order to continue work, or take an extraordinary leave of absence (unpaid), the district said in the statement.
Students will not be required to provide proof of vaccination.
“We continue to hear from public health of the need for unvaccinated people to get immunized as soon as possible as vaccines reduce people’s risk of severe illness,” Val Windsor, board chair of the Delta School District, said in a statement. “We feel very strongly about protecting our students and staff. We believe anything we can do to reduce their risk of getting COVID, lessen the severity of their symptoms or reduce their time away from work or school is worth doing.”
In October 2021, the British Columbia government released guidelines for school districts to follow if they are going to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for staff.
Such a mandate would require teachers, administrators, cleaning staff, educational assistants and other adults in the school system to be immunized.
The province has refused to provide guidance on whether school districts should vote to impose vaccine mandates, instead encouraging all staff to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
B.C.’s biggest school district, Surrey, has previously announced it will not be mandating vaccines for adult staff.