Administering vaccinations

UDPDATE AUG. 20, 2021: PHO orders regarding mandatory vaccinations

BCCNM reminds nurses and midwives they must follow PHO orders including meeting mandatory vaccination status for working at certain sites. Nurses must also follow organizational policies and guidelines.

BCCNM, along with other partners in the BC Health Regulators (BCHR) group, is working closely with the BC Provincial Health Officer (PHO) and her team to help inform the rollout of the plan. Please refer to this announcement for information on how health care professionals can get involved in the vaccine rollout.

FAQs on immunization

Keeping current

Nurses and midwives should refer to the resources below for the most current information:

The COVID-19 Immunization Plan on the BC government website provides detailed information about each phase of the plan, including details of when different age groups can expect to be vaccinated.
The BCCDC website has a section that provides information/resources for health professionals, including a question and answer document.

Providing information to clients

As part of our mandate to protect the public, BCCNM reminds registrants of their duty to provide patients/clients with safe care, including protecting them from the risk of infection. Immunization is an effective way to reduce everyone’s risk of infection from COVID-19, and it complements the public health prevention and protection measures already in place

BCCNM supports the delivery of safe, evidence-based care. BC’s COVID-19 Immunization Plan is based on scientific evidence, as well as expert advice and recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, BC’s Immunization Committee and BC’s public health leadership committee. Canada also has one of the most thorough and stringent systems to approve new vaccines for use in people.

When a patient/client asks for your advice or opinion on COVID-19 immunization, they see you as a trusted source because of your professional designation/relationship. In keeping with this relationship, we expect you to provide patients/clients with advice that is:

within your scope of practice
in line with provincial public health guidance, such as prevention and protection measures, including vaccinations, masking, handwashing, and social distancing

grounded in science and best practices

If providing immunizations is not within your professional role/scope of practice, you can direct patients/clients to a trusted source for more information or assessment of their personal situation. In BC, the recommended source of COVID-19 vaccine information for your patients/clients is the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) website. The Immunize BC website also has FAQs for patients/clients.

If more information is needed, or if the patient/client has medical questions or concerns about COVID-19 immunization in relation to their personal medical condition, these are best answered by their primary health care provider.

COVID-19 safety protocols

All COVID-19 safety protocols to protect you and your clients/patients must remain in place during the rollout of BC’s COVID-19 Immunization Plan until the PHO officially communicates that it is safe to ease off or stop any of those measures.

Retired nurses and nursing students providing vaccinations

Retired nurses and nursing students are providing vaccinations under the authority of the Order of the Public Health Officer given March 24, 2021. The order specifies that “unless repealed earlier, [the] order will end on the date that [the Public Health Officer] provides notice under section 59 (b) of the Public Health Act that the Emergency has passed.”