Visitors to long-term care facilities in BC will need to be fully vaccinated by next week

Anyone wanting to visit a loved one in long-term care or assisted living will need to be vaccinated by next week.

Dr. Bonnie Henry announced today that the Province is updating its visitor policy in conjunction with the vaccine mandate for workers in these healthcare settings, which begins Oct. 12.

Starting on that day, all visitors to long-term care and assisted living facilities, as well as those who work there for any reason, will need to be vaccinated.

That means visitors will be turned away starting on the 12th if they can’t provide proof of full vaccination, while employees will be put on forced, unpaid leave.

On Oct. 26, these mandates will go into effect for workers and visitors of acute care and community care settings as well.

Henry said there will “of course” have exceptions for certain situations like palliative and end-of-life care.

BC’s top doctor said that this move protects our healthcare workers and the people receiving care and living in these higher-risk settings as we move into the time of year with increased respiratory illness.

Health Minister Adrian Dix followed up Henry at today’s briefing by providing vaccination rates for long-term care workers in each of BC’s five health authorities, which are as follows:

• Fraser: 97% have one dose, 93% have two
• Coastal: 97% have one dose, 94% have two
• Island: 95% have one dose, 91% have two
• Interior: 93% have one dose, 88% have two
• Northern: 88% have one dose, 79% have two

The vaccine mandate for visitors to healthcare settings wasn’t the only one announced today, as the province announced earlier in the day that all public service employees must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 22.