Vancouver Coastal Health issues letter opposing discriminatory policies for unvaxxed UBC students

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In today's report, I go through some of the juicy parts of two letters that were written to the University of British Columbia in February, encouraging the school to stop weekly COVID-19 testing for those who have not been injected with two COVID-19 shots, and also to stop requiring proof of vaccination.

Then, I sit down to interview Sheila Cran, a first-year UBC student from Alberta who has not received a COVID-19 injection Sheila shares what it’s been like to fight to keep her bodily autonomy while still gaining an education and keeping her student residency at the school since last September.

The first letter addressed to UBC that has helped the school get back on track to normalcy was sent from Vancouver Coastal Health’s office of the chief medical health officer. The same public health unit whose chief medical health officer, Patricia Daly, admitted that the province's discriminatory vaccine passport, which is still in place until April 8, is not segregating people to mitigate transmission of COVID-19, but instead is to “create an incentive to improve our vaccine coverage.”

The letter includes that “current scientific evidence, including B.C. data, indicates that COVID-19 vaccination (two-doses), while effective at preventing severe illness, is not effective at preventing infection or transmission of the Omicron variant of the virus, which now accounts for almost 100% of cases.”

And that “there is now no material difference in the likelihood that a UBC student or staff member who is vaccinated or unvaccinated may be infected and potentially infectious to others.”

Another letter signed by four of the school's professors, including the director of research and medical epidemiology, lead for antimicrobial resistance, and UBC School of Population and Public Health Dr. David Patrick, which reads in bold that “they recommend that UBC shift its focus away from documenting vaccination status based on a two-dose regimen, and that “there is no longer a strong scientific reason to differentially treat those who were fully vaccinated months ago and those who are unvaccinated.”

After considering both letters the school dropped certain COVID-19 policies on March 1, informing students and staff that it “will no longer require regular rapid testing or vaccine declarations except as needed to comply with the relevant public health orders” which includes students and employees who are based within certain health-care settings. The school wrote in a letter informing such that “there is no longer a strong scientific reason to differentially treat those who were fully vaccinated months ago and those who are unvaccinated, in terms of the risks that they pose for transmitting COVID to others.”

Despite the European Union warning that being inoculated with boosters frequently, such as every four months, may result in one adversely affecting their immune system, and boosters failing to stop the Omicron variant, the school is encouraging those eligible to receive a COVID-19 booster.

If you agree that COVID-19 was never a good reason to create a two-tier society, that discriminates against people unable to take COVID-19 shots, or who chose not to, please join the legal fight to challenge vaccine passports and no jab, no pay policies in Canada, by donating at FightVaccinePassports.com.