Kamloops city councillor Denis Walsh is upset about the city’s vaccination policy, which prevents the hiring of people who are unvaccinated against COVID-19.
At the May 10 council meeting, Walsh, who is not vaccinated called the policy both “unreasonable” and “discriminatory.”
He then asked City staff for an explanation into the science behind their decision to not hire people who are not vaccinated.
“Like given what we all know, the way the shift has all gone with the Omicron virus, it doesn’t seem to be discriminating against anybody,” Walsh said.
“The vaccine is obviously at best would prevent serious or severe illness, it’s a given that they don’t protect you from getting the virus, so why are we holding onto this policy of not hiring people which I would say is discriminatory based on the evidence.”
The City’s director of human resources, Colleen Quigley, responded to Walsh, saying the vaccination policy is “suspended” noting the City “very much” follows the advice of Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.
“We talk on a weekly basis as well with all our counterparts and it is very common, if not across the board, that other municipalities are also requiring all new hires to be vaccinated,” she added.
“That’s really just in line with down the road in terms of with what may or may not happen. We don’t believe we are completely out of this and so we feel like we should be taking a more cautious approach at this time.”
According to Mayor Ken Christian, 95 per cent of people who work for the City of Kamloops are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.