School District 47 will not be having COVID-19 vaccinations for students on school grounds.
At the Powell River Board of Education meeting on February 16, superintendent of schools Dr. Jay Yule said the school district had ongoing discussions with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) indicating the school district definitely supports vaccines, but it does not want to create any more difficulty in schools, or anything of a divisive nature.
“We are happy to host regular immunization clinics in our schools, but we prefer, if they [VCH] want to offer COVID-19 vaccines to students, that they make arrangements off of school facilities,” said Yule. “Vancouver Coastal Health has worked with us and agreed that it can work for them. They’ll have a date in March to have their regular clinic but they will not be offering COVID-19 vaccines in those clinics.”
Vancouver Coastal Health sent out correspondence to families of school district students. In it, VCH public health stated it wanted to clarify the school district’s approach to school-aged immunizations for the 2021 to 2022 school year.
“We know the protection that routine school vaccines provide against serious diseases such as measles, meningitis and cancer are very important to you, as this community has a very high uptake – over 90 per cent for most routine childhood vaccines,” stated VCH. “In an effort to support busy families who wish to have their eligible children vaccinated against COVID-19 as well, across the VCH region we have offered this as an add-on to our routine school clinics.
“While our team initially planned to offer the COVID-19 vaccination at Brooks Secondary School immunization clinic, after discussion with the school district, we have decided to provide only routine immunizations as part of our school clinics in this community. We will support families who wish their eligible children to access COVID-19 vaccination at locations other than School District 47 facilities. Parents who have consented for their children to receive COVID-19 vaccination will be contacted by public health staff to arrange a convenient appointment. For any general questions regarding COVID-19 vaccination or other health issues, please call 811.”
The correspondence stated the next immunization clinic planned for Brooks Secondary School students in grade nine and 10 will take place on March 9.
