School District 8 has pushed back the deadline for staff to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In January, the district said staff would be required to provide documentation by March 11. If they didn’t, they would have the choice of undergoing regular rapid testing or be put on an unpaid leave.
Superintendent Trish Smillie said Monday that is still the district’s plan, but staff will now have until April 11 to submit their vaccine information following new direction from the board of trustees.
The extension, she said, allows trustees to consider potential mandate changes from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. Henry has said her health orders may ease by spring break as cases continue to decline, while other provinces also scale back their own restrictions.
“The board was considering all that evolving COVID-19 data changes to public health directives, because we know there are things happening right now,” said Smillie.
“I think they directed that to just provide a bit of extra time to consider what was happening.”
Smillie said she couldn’t yet say how many SD8 staff have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Ministry of Health said Monday that 90.7 per cent of British Columbians ages five and older have received at least one dose, while 86.5 per cent have had two doses.
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@tyler_harper | tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
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