Bye bye vaccine card? BC set to provide COVID-19 update next week

A local restaurant with a sign requiring the BC Vaccine Card and proof of vaccination (Margarita Young/Shutterstock).

While BC health officials have stayed relatively quiet since announcing the lifting of the mask mandate, an update is expected next week as the BC Vaccine Card is set to expire.

At a media scrum on Thursday morning, Health Minister Adrian Dix suggested we will get an update on Tuesday. A spokesperson with BC health told Daily Hive that it’s “safe to assume that the BC Vaccine Card will be mentioned.”

While originally set to expire in June, BC health officials changed the schedule thanks to an improving COVID-19 situation in the province. The BC Vaccine Card is now set to be dropped on April 8, but no other details have been mentioned, including whether or not it’ll still be implemented in certain settings like the mask mandate.

When it comes to the COVID-19 situation in BC, daily case counts have been trending downward, while hospitalizations and ICU admissions have been up and down in recent weeks.

During the question portion of a press conference on Thursday morning, BC Premier John Horgan expressed confidence in BC’s next steps.

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While Horgan remains optimistic, he does acknowledge that there could be some challenges ahead, including potential surges that may appear during the fall respiratory season.

Even though the mask mandate has only been lifted for a few weeks, it hasn’t stopped some groups from urging BC to reinstate it, including the BC Human Rights Commissioner.

It remains to be seen whether we’ll see a similar uproar in response to the BC Vaccine Card being dropped. When BC’s proof of vaccination is lifted next week, it removes the only provincially mandated layer of protection left to protect people against COVID-19 in public settings. BC residents still have the choice of masking up in indoor settings despite the mask mandate being lifted.

This applies to restaurants, concerts, and other public settings.

At a media scrum on Thursday morning, Health Minister Adrian Dix suggested that we could also see an update on booster doses.

Daily Hive will have the latest as the news breaks on Tuesday.