The provincial vaccine mandate for health-care workers might be history, but it is not clear how it might impact current and future labour shortages in the provincial health care.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry last week announced the end of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health-care workers as she declared an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency in lifting all the remaining orders.

The mandate impacted clinical and non-clinical health-care workers. The decision means that 2,692 health-care workers could return to work after having lost their jobs for refusing to follow the mandate. 

According to figures from the provincial government, they represented less than 1.2 per cent of provincial health workers. Interior Health led the provincial health authorities with 958, followed by Fraser Health with 503 and Island Health with 484. About 30 were full-time workers, the rest mainly casual ones. 

Parts of B.C.'s political opposition, including the provincial Conservatives and some municipal leaders, had long called for an end of the mandate because the provincial health care system needs all available staff, especially in smaller communities in B.C.'s where the available supply of staff could decide whether emergency rooms stay open or close.

While ER closures continue to impact communities across B.C., it is not far from certain whether the end of the mandate would have the effect of encouraging workers to return and ultimately help stop the closures. 

Speaking at an unrelated event in Greater Victoria, Health Minister Adrian Dix addressed that argument.

"We talk a lot about emergency rooms," he said. "For an emergency room, you need emergency-room qualified doctors and nurses in that room. In the Interior Health Authority, there were two full emergency-room nurses who lost their jobs. In Northern Health, there were two."

Ultimately, Dix said he does not know how many will return.

"I know that we have set records for new doctors ... records for new nurses, records for new health sciences professionals."

He added that the largest group of workers impacted by the mandate were non-clinical, although some clinical staff did lose their jobs. 

Dix acknowledged that B.C. is "still struggling" when it comes to hiring staff for the health-care system, even as B.C. is doing better than other provinces when it comes to recruiting and retaining workers.

"Struggling is an indication that we need more ... so if they want to apply for those vacancies, they will, and of course, we will report out on those questions as we do."

Dix's ministry also points out that returning workers (without COVID-19 immunization) must still provide information about their immune status to all the relevant vaccine preventable diseases.

Looming behind this statement is the implication that potential returnees might be hesitant to provide that information if they had initially refused to receive immunization against COVID-19. 

The current absence of a vaccine mandate also does not preclude a future mandate. The ministry said workers without immunization might be required to follow various measures including masking, modified duties or exclusion from work in case of outbreaks, exposures or future pandemics.

Time could also play a role in the willingness of impacted workers to return.

The provincial government first introduced the mandate in October 2021 and renewed it in 2022 and 2023 before rescinding it in July 2024. Almost three years have passed between the mandate's introduction and its end – plenty of time for impacted workers to find jobs outside the health care system or leave the workforce altogether. 

When asked whether government had reached out to impacted workers, Dix responded in part by saying that B.C. made a massive effort to vaccinate workers.

"We implemented that vaccine mandate and the result was the best (COVID-19 performance) of any jurisdiction in North America," he said. "That means quality of life." 

He added that most of the impacted workers were unionized.

"We have relationships with them through grievance processes and other things," he said. "So that's the process and we will be working now obviously with the unions as well through this process."