Lions Gate Hospital doctor and restaurant association president want B.C. to scrap vaccine passport

With the vaccine passport now gone in Alberta and on its way out next week in Saskatchewan, an internist at North Vancouver’s Lions Gate Hospital who treats COVID-19 patients says B.C. should follow suit, arguing its vaccine card program is no longer serving its purpose

Dr. Kevin McLeod posted on social media: “Vaccine mandates initially made sense. I supported them. At this stage of the pandemic, they do not make sense. It shouldn’t be political. It’s time they are removed.”

In a follow-up tweet, McLeod explained his stance, arguing: “With Omicron, the vaccinated and unvaccinated spread it around equally. You aren’t safer in a room with the vaccinated, unvaccinated or in between.”

The president of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association, Ian Tostenson, agrees vaccine passports should be phased out.

“I don’t think we should just end it, because (for) the public there is a little bit of reliance on this in terms of assurance of when you go into places. We need to ease out of that,’ said Tostenson.

But it appears provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is in no hurry to follow Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“We are still at the highest levels of transmission we have ever had in this pandemic, so there is absolutely a purpose to why we are continuing to use B.C.’s vaccine card in those specific, higher-risk settings,“ said Henry.

Another emergency room physician Dr. Nav Grewal supports Henry’s decision to wait.

“With the high numbers of us that are vaccinated, most of us still agree these vaccine passports and mandates should remain in place until we know for sure that public health guidance tells us when they should let up, and not political pressure,” said Grewal.

B.C.’s vaccine card program has been extended until June 30, although Henry has hinted she may lift it sooner. As for when, she said:

“When we can reach that point of balancing – which has been the intent the entire time – the need for it and the amount of hospitalizations and deaths we are seeing.”

Tostenson doubts the program will stick around for months.

“Do we hold it til June? I don’t think so, I think that those vaccination passport requirements will come off well before June, because I think the numbers will start to show, the science will start to show that it’s not anything of worth,” he said.

There are other COVID-19 restrictions scheduled to expire in B.C. next week, including the six-person-per-table limit at restaurants and the 50-per-cent capacity limit at larger venues like Rogers Arena. Henry says she will announce details of the path forward next week, but it seems unlikely that will include the removal of the vaccine passport.