No fines for unvaccinated in B.C., top doctor says after financial penalty announced in Quebec

Health officials in British Columbia have no plans to demand payment from those who choose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the province's top doctor says.

Dr. Bonnie Henry was asked about it at a news conference Tuesday, following a decision from Quebec's premier to impose what he called a "significant" financial penalty on the unvaccinated.

François Legault called the penalty a "health-care contribution," and said the exact amount was still being worked out. He suggested, however, that it would be higher than $100.

In Quebec, the penalty will apply to all unvaccinated adults who refuse to get their first dose of the vaccine in the next few weeks, officials said. And those with medical exemptions to the shots will not be expected to pay.

The announcement prompted questions to provincial officials across Canada, including to B.C.'s provincial health officer, who said Tuesday that such a fine, penalty or tax will not be used on the West Coast.

"We're taking the measures that we feel are important to address what we're seeing here now. I don't foresee making it mandatory for vaccinations for everybody in the province," Henry said.

"I think we have very strong support for vaccination and it is really important in specific settings, and we've mandated them in some and I know many other sectors have stood up to make sure that all of the workers and people who are in those settings are protected as well through vaccination."

Henry turned the question over to Health Minister Adrian Dix, after stating her opinion.

He too said B.C. has no plans for similar measures, and added that he believes the provincial vaccination campaigns have been successful without such penalties in place.

"I can say definitively we will not be proceeding with a similar measure," the minister said.

The vaccination rate is high in the province, Dix said.

According to data from the Public Health Agency of Canada, 91.33 per cent of people aged 12 and older have had at least one dose of vaccine in B.C.

Quebec's percentage is slightly higher, at 91.42 per cent.

Dix said the current focus in B.C. is on the vaccination of children aged five to 11, and booster shots for the province's most vulnerable residents.

In Quebec, Legault called it a "question of equity," and said those who've been holding off on getting the shots "have a bill to pay" for the consequences of their decisions.

B.C. hospitals have been seeing surges in COVID-19 patients in recent weeks as the fast-spreading Omicron passes through the province.

While those with two shots have at times made up the majority of new hospitalizations, on a per-capita basis, vaccinated people are much less likely to need treatment in hospital.

Looking at the most recent data from the Health Ministry, there have been 35.5 unvaccinated people hospitalized per 100,000 population, after adjusting for age.

During that same timeframe, Dec. 24 to Jan. 6, just 5.3 fully vaccinated people per 100,000 have been treated in hospital.

With files from CTV News Montreal's Joe Lofaro