Re: Demonstrators take to streets to protest vaccine mandates (News, Feb. 10)
Jewel Black said the demonstration on Feb. 2 was prompted by the Sooke School District requiring teachers to provide proof of vaccination or be tested weekly.
It looks to me like the protest was aiming to deny teachers the protection that the majority of them have been requesting for some time.
In October 2021, the B.C. Teachers Federation said they supported a vaccine mandate. And a BCTF survey that month reported 82 per cent of teachers supported requiring all adults working in schools to be vaccinated.
When the Jan. 17 order requiring schools to keep records of staff vaccination status was announced, Teri Mooring, BCTF president said: “We would much rather have a vaccine mandate put in place by the provincial health office, which they obviously have the full authority to do, rather than just vaccine status disclosure.”
Teachers have had a very hard time in this pandemic. I think we should give them the support they are asking for.
Sharon Sterling
Sooke
editor@sookenewsmirror.com
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