VANCOUVER -- Multiple police agencies in British Columbia are asking members who booked COVID-19 vaccination appointments to cancel them, CTV News has learned, after what they describe as confusion and misinformation from local health authorities – and that’s being met with even more turmoil.
The B.C. RCMP and police in Vancouver, West Vancouver and New Westminster confirm they’ve had to ask frontline police to cancel appointments they aren’t eligible for, even though they identified themselves to call-takers as law enforcement and were accepted to book a shot. Correctional officers are currently eligible for vaccinations, while police and other law enforcement officers are not.
Ralph Kaisers, president of the B.C. Police Association and the Vancouver Police Union, said one officer successfully booked an appointment on Friday night and word "spread like wildfire through the policing community."
“We don’t have a definitive number, but my conservative estimate is at least 100 people, if not more, and that’s from police organizations throughout the Lower Mainland,” Kaisers said.
That left senior leadership in police agencies of all stripes scrambling to address the issue.
“Over the weekend, we spoke with the B.C. Ministry of Health to resolve the misinformation and confirmed this is not the case and police officers will continue to be part of the previously announced roll out plan, mindful that front-line essential workers may been moved up based on vaccine availability during Phase 3,” said B.C. RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Janelle Shoihet.
Shoihet said there’d been “misinformation” circulating from one of the health authorities that gave the impression police were allowed to make appointments.
“We became aware late last week that there was confusion in the region about police officers being eligible for vaccinations through Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health, and the VPD immediately took proactive steps to provide clarity to the VPD membership,” said Vancouver police spokesperson, Sgt. Steve Addison.
“We have heard rumours that some officers from several agencies did call to book appointments, identified themselves as police officers, and were told by health authority staff that they were allowed to do so … The VPD has clarified with our members and advised that they are not currently eligible to book vaccination appointments.”
Neither spokesperson was able to provide an estimate as to how many of their members may have booked appointments, nor did they say what the potential fallout could be if they didn’t voluntarily cancel their appointments.
West Vancouver police say they reached out to local health authorities to make sure they rules hadn’t changed, while New Westminster police reiterated the same situation everyone else described: misinformation floating throughout the policing community that officers were now eligible.
While it’s possible some officers knew they weren’t eligible and took advantage of an apparent loophole, the province has been modifying its vaccination plans quickly. For example, early Sunday evening they took to social media to unexpectedly announce some seniors would be eligible to book appointments much earlier than anticipated.
Ongoing communication issues
CTV News reached out to Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health Monday morning to understand what led to the miscommunication and how they plan to address it. Neither offered an explanation, and instead the Ministry of Health emailed a statement at 5:55 p.m., just minutes before CTV News at Six began.
“We’ve learned of appointments being booked by police officers ahead of their eligibility schedule, as a result of a miscommunication,” wrote a spokesperson. “We are monitoring for any additional bookings from law enforcement who are not yet eligible.”
Instead of explaining how the “miscommunication” could happen and whether they were addressing training issues or clarifying the policy with call-takers, the rest of the email reiterated the essential workers eligible for access to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Not only are they not clarifying whether the appointments will be honoured, they seem to have a new issue to deal with when officers are following the instructions from their leadership to cancel their appointment.
"The comment from the call-taker specifically questioned the member as to why they were calling to cancel their appointment because they could come to get the vaccine, and then actually made reference to 'the chiefs,' if you can call them that, aren't doctors, so what to do they know?'” said Kaisers in describing a call from one police officer.
He says a number of officers have had similar conversations with call centre employees for the health authority, who discouraged them from cancelling their appointments.
“Which I thought was funny because again here’s more miscommunication from a health authority that’s maybe not in line with what the public health office is saying,” Kaisers said.
He noted that about 40 Vancouver police officers have tested positive for COVID-19 thus far and that 1,658 shifts have been unfulfilled as a result of the illnesses themselves, as well as orders to self-isolate after close contact with the confirmed cases.
