Mandatory COVID vaccinations for visitors to B.C. health-care facilities

With all health-care workers required to be vaccinated by Oct. 26, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is now making it mandatory for visitors to all health-care facilities to also be fully vaccinated.

Starting on Oct. 12, visitors to long-term and assisted living homes will have to be fully vaccinated. That rule takes effect on Oct. 26 in acute care hospitals.

“Those who are not fully vaccinated will be not able to visit in healthcare settings,” Dr. Henry said during a news briefing today, Oct. 5.

Some exceptions will be made for palliative and end of life care, she said.

Tuesday, Oct. 12 is the deadline for workers in long-term and acute care facilities to be vaccinated. Workers who get their first doses before then will be able to continue to work if they commit to getting a second dose but with extra protections in place for them, Dr Henry said.

READ MORE: All staff in B.C. long term care homes must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 12

The restriction on visitors in acute care facilities is later because those workers do not have to be fully vaccinated until Oct. 26.

So far, 96% of long-term and acute care workers are vaccinated, Health Minister Adrian Dix said during the same briefing.

That includes 97% of long-term care workers with one dose in both the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal health regions, 95% on Vancouver Island, 93% in Interior Health and 88% in the Northern Health region.

In assisted living facilities, the vaccinations rates are generally higher with 99% of workers in Vancouver Coastal having one dose and 95% in Interior Health.

Any long-term and assisted living workers who are not vaccinated as of the end of the day Tuesday will be put on leave without pay.

Contingency plans have been put in place to make sure residents get the care they need even if some workers are not able to work, Dr. Henry said.

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