B.C.’s top doctor imposing more, not fewer, COVID restrictions

While some provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan have announced they will dramatically ease COVID-19 restrictions, B.C. is going in the opposite direction.

As of March 24, all health professionals in B.C. will have to be fully vaccinated, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced at a news briefing today, Feb. 9.

“I think this is a really important measure that will bring the same standard to all health-care professionals across the province,” she said.

Health-care workers in hospitals and care homes had to be fully vaccinated last fall and other health-care professionals were told this was coming in October, Dr. Henry said. It has taken so long to put the measure in place because of some technical issues about who is affected and how to determine vaccine status.

The new order affects all health professionals covered by the Registered Health Professions Act.

On the other side of the restriction question, she said she’s working with the bar and nightclub industry on how they can transition to serving food so they can re-open.

Dr. Henry is sticking by her schedule to not announce any easing of restrictions until Feb. 15.

READ MORE: B.C. premier backs COVID-19 health restrictions, will not bend to horn honking

At that time, she promised, she would talk about how the province will move forward to living with COVID but there will only be a gradual easing or restrictions and those will be based on science.

The health-care system continues to be under strain from the Omicron variant, Dr. Henry said while urging people to get vaccinated and get their boosters shots. There will be another COVID variant coming so the more protection through vaccinations the better B.C.'s chance to battle that variant.

While being infected with Omicron does provide some level of immunity it’s uneven and unclear how long it will last so people should continue on their vaccination programs, especially if they have underlying health conditions, she said.

While there are no definite answers, Dr. Henry said, it seems that booster shots improve immunity from infections by 50 to 60%.

She also noted that some data about COVID cases that health authorities have been publishing is no longer relevant, including the number of active cases, so those will no longer be posted.

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