Richmond city council will be discussing whether to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for city staff as well as for mayor and council.
The discussion, however, will take place in a closed council meeting next Monday, and depending on what is decided, Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie expects an announcement will be made shortly thereafter.
Brodie himself supports a policy mandating vaccines for city staff as well as for all of council, saying the policy shouldn’t be any different for council members.
“I think it’s a matter of safety, not of just the person, but the people around that person,” Brodie said. “There’s very high rates of vaccinations in Richmond and so I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to do everything we can do to protect, not only ourselves, but those around us.”
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, in Steveston, City Centre and the East/West Cambie Bridgeport area, 89 per cent of residents aged 12 and older have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
In other areas of Richmond, the rate ranges from 83 per cent to 87 per cent.
In the meantime, the school district is waiting for guidelines on a vaccination mandate for teachers and other school staff. Both the BC Teachers’ Federation and CUPE have come out in support of a mandate for school staff.
