(LifeSiteNews) — The British Columbia Nurses Union (BCNU) warned that government COVID jab mandates for healthcare workers will “force members” to leave and further exacerbate already existing staff shortages in the province.
“In response to the government’s announcement on September 13 of its plans to extend the mandatory vaccination order to all health-care workers, yesterday BCNU expressed its support for vaccination while raising concerns that consequences to this order could contribute to the severe nurse shortage in this province,” reads a September 15 press release from the BCNU.
“BCNU strongly supports vaccination and evidence-based decision-making. At a time when the union is imploring with health employers to improve staffing levels across this province, we are concerned that the mandatory nature of the vaccination strategy will force members to leave, further exacerbating a staffing shortage that is increasingly unmanageable.”
On September 13, British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix announced that all healthcare workers had to have COVID jabs by October 26.
The BCNU wrote in its press release that the percentage of those who are not jabbed is “not distributed evenly across the province.”
“This reality can pose desperate staffing challenges in worksites where staffing is already stretched extremely thin,” says BCNU.
The BCNU then said the government has not provided transparency “regarding operational and contingency planning to support this new public health order,” and that without a solid plan, workplace disruptions are inevitable.
“Without these plans in place, there is potential for a significant number of health-care workers to be removed from an already depleted workforce. Taking nurses away from the bedside will have serious impacts on patient care,” says BCNU.
On Monday, the president of the BCNU Christine Sorensen suddenly resigned.
Current vice-president of BCNU Aman Grewal said that around 20 percent of workers are choosing not to get jabbed.
According to Grewal, among the reasons for refusing the shots are…
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