B.C.’s health minister said the province will not go down the same path as Quebec on vaccinations due to the “exceptional success” of vaccination campaigns here.
On Tuesday Quebec Premier François Legault said the province would be imposing a “health tax” on Quebecers who refuse to get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks.
“We’re looking for a health contribution for adults who refuse to be vaccinated for non-medical reasons,” Legault said at a news conference saying he wanted it to be significant enough to be an incentive to get vaccinated. This would be more than $100 he added, saying details would be released in the coming weeks but might involve adding the amount to people’s provincial tax filings.
When asked whether B.C. would follow suit at Tuesday’s COVID update, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said: “We are taking the measures that we feel are important to address what we are seeing here now.
“I don’t foresee making it mandatory for vaccinations for everybody in the province, I think we have very strong support for vaccination and it is very important in certain settings and we have mandated in some.”
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix confirmed the province was not planning similar measures adding: “I can say definitively we will not be proceeding with a similar measure in B.C. but we will continue our strong efforts to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated.”
“I would say our vaccination campaigns, all of them, have been exceptionally successful because of all the work done by people doing the vaccinations, by volunteers and by the people of B.C.” He noted that currently, 93 per cent of all adults over 18 have received their first dose, 90 per cent their second dose and 29 per cent their third booster dose. “It’s been an exceptional effort by everyone,” Dix added.
Dix said the key focus currently is on the parents of children aged 5-11. A total of 152,532 children in this age group are vaccinated so far. A further 189,814 have registered leaving approximately 160,000 who are not currently registered.
