BC teacher suspended for anti-vax tirade at school vaccine clinic

A teacher in Northern BC was suspended without pay after going on an anti-vaccine tirade in the school cafeteria while a student vaccine clinic was underway.

Patrick James Nelson is a high school teacher in the Coast Mountain district, and on October 6, 2021, he left his class unattended to visit the school cafeteria during a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for students, according to a discipline document posted on the BC government’s website this week.

Nelson spewed misinformation once at the vaccine clinic, saying COVID-19 vaccines were dangerous, experimental, and poisonous. He also claimed health authority staff were unethical in offering vaccines to students, and said the immunizers should be ashamed of themselves.

At one point he approached a nurse without wearing a mask and yelled and pointed his finger at the nurse’s face.

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“Nelson’s tone and anger were such that a school staff member called for assistance from the school’s administration,” the discipline document reads. “Some students were upset and had to be removed from the cafeteria.”

Nelson was suspended without pay for a week about a year after the incident, and the school district made him write an apology to health clinic personnel and attend a meeting with affected students and staff at the school.

He also needed to complete a course on professional boundaries and conflict resolution.