British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has lifted the requirement for medical regulators to have members say if they had taken COVID-19 vaccines. .“The collection and disclosure by the Colleges of vaccination status information of registrants is no longer needed to support the response to the ‘regional event’ as described in the notice issued by me on March 17, 2020, also known as the SARS-CoV-2 public health emergency,” said Henry in a statement. .“Take notice that effective July 14, 2023, at 11:59 pm, that the Order is terminated.” .The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms filed a petition in the BC Supreme Court seeking to abolish the province’s vaccine mandate for some groups of healthcare workers in 2022..READ MORE: Another legal action filed to end vaccine order for BC healthcare workers.The lawsuit was initiated on behalf of several BC healthcare workers who lost their jobs because of Henry’s orders — the most recent of which compelled medical colleges to provide vaccine status of its members. .This order did not highlight any consequences for being unvaccinated, which is a pivot from Henry’s previous announcement that remaining healthcare workers would be out of work if they were unvaccinated. .BC moved towards imposing a vaccine mandate, known as Bill 36, on tens of thousands of health practitioners as a condition of licensing in November. .READ MORE: CARPAY: BC moves towards mandatory vaccination of all health care providers .Bill 36 allowed medical colleges to deny their members the ability to practice unless they had been injected with whatever vaccine they wanted. .The bill was rushed through the Legislative Assembly of BC in a matter of weeks, with BC Health Minister, Adrian Dix, introducing it in October, adding it was a replacement of the Health Professions Act from 1996.
