COVID-19 vaccines now mandatory for all BC long-term and assisted living staff | FULL

B.C. health officials announced new orders Thursday that everyone who works in long-term care and assisted living facilities in the province must be vaccinated against COVID-19.

"We think this additional step to the steps we took earlier on... that this additional step will add to the safety of all of those living in long-term care," Health Minister Adrian Dix said at a press conference.

This will apply to all licenced facilities, and every staff member, including volunteers, must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 12.

It will be a condition of employment.

Dix said in January of this year, they reported 49 care home outbreaks to almost none in the month of February.

He said this shows the importance of the vaccine program to health-care workers in long-term care.

But cases of COVID-19 continue to climb across the province, Dix said, particularly in the Interior region.

Visitors to long-term and assisted living facilities who are not fully vaccinated will have to wear a mask when visiting loved ones.

For more info, please go to: https://globalnews.ca/news/8107102/bc-mandatory-covid-vaccine-health-care-workers-unvaccinated/

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