COVID-19: School trustees in Central Okanagan to discuss vaccine mandate

Central Okanagan school trustees are set to discuss whether district employees should be subject to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, a direction many other B.C. school boards have yet to take.

Trustee Norah Bowman put forward a notice of motion to implement a vaccine mandate for all Central Okanagan public school employees, including trustees, two weeks earlier. If it’s seconded today, the matter will be debated during the meeting.

Bowman said she put forth the plan for a vaccine mandate because vaccines reduce hospitalization rates, reduce the rate of death and reduce the severity of illness.

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Further, Bowman said when she thinks of school communities they’re not just places of learning and working. They’re a safe place for many community members, some of whom live “with illnesses and immune conditions.”

“When you go into our schools you can expect to be safe — that’s our job as an employer and community leaders,” Bowman said in an interview right after she put forward the motion.

Bowman also added that the mandate wouldn’t mean that employees who chose not to be vaccinated would lose their jobs. Those who choose to not be vaccinated will be asked to take a rapid test up to twice a week.

Regardless, vaccine mandates are still fodder for heated conversations and tonight’s meeting is not expected to be any different.

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Hundreds of letters and emails have made their way to the district office and trustees’ personal inboxes. So, too, has a petition with 2,300 names signed to it.

The vast majority of those who signed are “concerned citizens” or parents but there are dozens of school employees, including teachers. A West Kelowna city councillor has also signed the petition that offers scientifically unsupported ideas, including that vaccines are more harmful than the virus itself.

“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that we have more reason to fear adverse reactions from the vaccines, that offer very little if any benefit than we do from the virus itself,” reads the letter.

According to one signatory, those who signed were given an opportunity to opt-out in recent weeks. They chose not to, despite not being fully on board with all the statements made in the letter.

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Interior Health has ordered all 4,000 employees of Central Okanagan Public Schools to provide information on their COVID-19 vaccination status to the board by Jan. 28.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said health regions will assist school districts in compiling vaccination data from staff, citing both the Delta and Central Okanagan school districts as examples where assistance is needed.

Baxter said Henry has enforcement powers that school districts don’t have to ensure the staff vaccination information be provided.