As the largest single employer in the Province’s public sector, the Government of B.C. is safeguarding its workers, requiring that all direct government employees have the best defence against COVID-19 and variants by being fully vaccinated by Nov. 22, 2021.

Building on existing health and safety measures in provincial government workplaces, the proof of vaccination requirement will provide reassurance to public-service employees and the people they serve.

The policy applies to any employee working for the BC Public Service, regardless of whether the employee works on site or remotely. This also includes employees of any board, commission, agency, or organization to which the Public Service Act applies or whose employees are hired in accordance with the Public Service Act, unless their organization will have a comparable policy in place by Nov. 22.

Complementary to the new proof of vaccination policy, the existing BC Public Service Occupational Safety and Health Policy has been updated to require contractors and others accessing employee-only areas of indoor public-service workplaces to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 13, 2021. This does not apply to members of the public accessing government services.

Providing proof must be done by showing a digital or paper version of the BC Vaccine Card indicating the person has been fully vaccinated. Employees who do not provide proof of vaccination, or refuse to disclose their vaccination status by Nov. 22, 2021, will be considered unvaccinated.

While strong compliance is expected, BC Public Service employees who do not have at least one dose of the vaccine by Nov. 22, where there is not an approved exemption based on a medical condition or other legitimate grounds, will be placed on unpaid leave for three months.