The City of West Kelowna is the latest municipality to introduce a COVID-19 vaccination policy for its employees.
All city employees will need to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4, according to a statement from the city released Wednesday, Oct. 27. The policy applies to all staff employed by the city, regardless of their work location.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have worked closely with our employees to provide a safe work environment in line with public health orders and, aside from those orders, we need to do as much as we can beyond that,” CAO Paul Gipps said.
“Not only will this policy help protect our employees, it will help protect our citizens who we serve across all city facilities.”
It’s not clear whether unvaccinated employees will lose their jobs, as is the case with City of Kelowna’s mandate.
The city said that the Jan. 4 deadline should give employees ample time to get both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
West Kelowna joins other regional municipal governments in Kelowna, Penticton, Kamloops, and the Columbia Shuswap Regional District in enacting a vaccine policy. The District of Lake Country and Regional District of Central Okanagan are still considering the impacts of such a mandate.
READ MORE: Tories to respect vaccine mandate but challenge board ruling that created it: O’Toole
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