Regulated health professionals no longer required to disclose COVID-19 vaccination status in B.C.

British Columbia will no longer require regulated health professionals to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status to their regulatory body, according to an order issued by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry last Friday.

The order, which was posted on the provincial health officer's website, also drops the requirement for colleges to report vaccination rates of its members to the province.

The changes took effect just before midnight Friday.

"The collection and disclosure by the regulatory colleges of vaccination status information of registrants is no longer needed to support the pandemic response," a spokesperson for Henry's office said in a Monday emailed statement to CBC.

The vaccine mandate for employees in the public health-care system who work in hospitals, community care settings and residential facilities like long-term care remains in effect.

Friday's order comes more than a year after the province abandoned plans to mandate vaccines for regulated health professionals working outside public health care, from dentists, chiropractors and naturopaths to dietitians and physiotherapists.

Henry initially said in October 2021 that regulated health professionals would need to be vaccinated to continue practising, announcing in February 2022 that all would need at least one dose by the following month.

However a subsequent order on March 8 of that year was very different, requiring instead that colleges collect vaccination information from registrants and report that info to the province if asked.

At the time, Health Minister Adrian Dix denied the province had backed off its plans.

On March 11, Henry confirmed the province would instead make providers' vaccination information available to patients so they could have "informed consent," though the province hasn't said since how that would work.

'Replacement system'

In response to a CBC request for comment on Friday, a spokesperson for Henry's office said future data on the vaccination rates of registrants in each of B.C.'s 19 regulatory colleges is no longer needed to develop the promised "replacement system."

Colleges were required to report overall vaccination rates three times in total, including a recent "snapshot" on Friday, with detailed data to come next month.

"By obtaining this information, a comprehensive understanding of the vaccination status and its trends will be gained, making the current order unnecessary as the province moves forward with policy work to establish a replacement system," the statement read.

CBC asked for more information on the "replacement system" and whether it was different than the "informed consent" system Henry previously promised, but the spokesperson declined to answer.

"It would be premature to share details while that is being established," said a follow-up statement.

Opposition to promised vaccine mandate

There was strong opposition to the planned vaccine mandate among certain health professions.

Registrants in most B.C. colleges have sent long "notices of liability" to their colleges, saying college board members will be personally responsible if they are required to be vaccinated to be licensed and practise in B.C. Legal experts have said these notices have no legal value.

At the annual general meeting of the College of Chiropractors in December 2021, registrants voted for the college to "take a stand" against any mandates in a non-binding resolution.

The college and health ministry later denounced comments some members at the meeting made against vaccine mandates in general.

The Chiropractic Defense Council, an American non-profit created "to defend the rights of chiropractors," previously promised to take legal action against a mandate in B.C. and has solicited funding to support its efforts.