B.C. mayors supportive yet concerned about Monday’s vaccine passport launch

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Say goodbye to sitting inside a restaurant if you don’t have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, as Sunday is the final day before new vaccine passport rules kick in across B.C.

Starting Sept. 13, vaccine passports will be required to access many non-essential businesses. One dose will be required to enter places like indoor concerts, sporting events, movies, and anywhere there is non-discretionary activities.

By Oct. 24, only fully immunized people will be able to get into these places, which include indoor ticketed sports events, indoor and patio dining in restaurants, fitness centres, casinos and indoor organized events, like conferences and weddings.

However, the mayor of Williams Lake, Walt Cobb, says some people are unhappy about the new rules.

“We did have a demonstration — apparently there was over 200 people in the in the march,” he said.

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He’s since been hearing from community members about the passport being launched.

“I think part of the frustration with them is that nobody’s listening,” Cobb says, adding, government officials suggesting people who are unvaccinated are “idiots” does not help.

Cobb is concerned that restaurants in his city won’t be ready for Monday.

“As a small business person, having to be required to have extra staff is what it’s going to end up being — checking somebody at the door,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kimberley Mayor Don McCormick says only a small percentage of people in his community are against the vaccine, adding, “What we’re hoping is that the majority of people behave accordingly and this becomes not that big a deal.”

McCormick has also heard from opponents to the vaccine passport system, hoiwever he says there aren’t many.

“We’ve got a small percentage of the population that really see this as an infringement,” he notes.

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While he ultimately supports the mandate, he admits there is still some uncertainty about the new system.

“There are lots of questions and concerns about enforcement, but it’s not unusual to get those before things are implemented,” he said.

Meanwhile some small businesses are also concerned about the extra workload that will come with enforcing the vaccine card.

Brendon Chan owns The Basic, a breakfast and lunch diner on Main Street in Vancouver, and says the vaccine card has many in the restaurant sector worried.

“We all share the same concern — safety for staff, and then even having enough staff to deal with the extra workload that comes with checking vaccine passports,” he said.

Chan is bolstering his roster so he is able to launch the program safely.

“The first week I think it’s going to be pretty slow with people not even being able to get it right away anyway, but for the weekend, I am putting another guy on, hiring one more person just to be able to check the vaccine passports,” he said.

Enforcement has been left up to individual small businesses, he says.

“Pretty sure the police aren’t going to be able to come to every shop… I’ll call the police, see what happens in the room, if someone decides to act up a little bit more than, we’ll have to deal with it,” he said.