As school districts mull vaccine mandates, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation says 94 per cent of teachers are fully vaccinated.
An internal health and safety survey found that only two per cent of BCTF members said they were unvaccinated, one per cent are partially vaccinated pending their second dose and four per cent did not respond to the survey.
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“From the beginning, BC teachers have been doing their part to keep their students and schools safe,” BCTF president Teri Mooring said. “We’ve also confirmed that 82 per cent of BC teachers support a province-wide vaccine mandate for all adults working in our schools. Any vaccine mandate in K to 12 must be province-wide, a district by district patchwork approach does not make sense.”
Aside from vaccination rates, the survey also found that the pandemic has negatively impacted teachers’ mental health, with 79 per cent saying their mental health has worsened and 27 per cent said the pandemic has made it more likely they will leave teaching within the next two years.
Only 46 per cent of teachers said they feel safe at work and 71 per cent said they don’t feel they’re getting enough information about COVID-19 cases and exposures in their schools.
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The BCTF said it will publish a more detailed report in the coming days and will use the data to continue their advocacy and lobbying efforts with the provincial government.
