Bulletin
Advocating for our members and access to vaccines
March 18, 2021
To: All MoveUP Members in B.C.
We wanted to take a moment to address all our members, particularly those working with the public and in front-line positions, on the updated vaccine rollout announcement made by the B.C. Government and Provincial Health Officers on Thursday.
First off, we should note that today’s announcement is a positive one for our province. Being able to speed up vaccinations and get them into areas where community spread is occurring, or at greater risk of occurring, will not only protect workers and people in those communities, but all of us in the long run. We have to understand that getting access to a vaccine is not a competition but that having others in our communities vaccinated is serving to protect those of us who are not yet vaccinated as well.
With that said, the plans revealed today by the government, for the most part, unfortunately do not include the majority of our members. We are disappointed by this, but we are not discouraged.
We know that the provincial health officers who are making these tough decisions are doing so based on the risk of community spread and they must make those decisions based on how much vaccine they know they have access to at this moment. What we do know is that the plans continue to evolve as more vaccine supply is acquired, and more vaccines are approved for safe use.
We are continuing to maintain an open dialogue with government officials to advocate on your behalf. Even though today’s announcement precludes many of our members from this round of priority access, that can easily change in a couple of days, in a week, or two weeks.
We will continue to talk to government to make them aware of the important work that all of you are doing in our communities and make the case that providing our members with priority access to vaccinations is an effective way of further reducing the risk of spread.
Thank you to all of you for your patience. We are continuing to provide updated information and resources on our Flatten The Curve page which we encourage you to visit.
In solidarity,
David Black, President
Lori Mayhew, Secretary-Treasurer
Rysa Kronebusch, Vice-President, Utilities
Christy Slusarenko, Vice-President, Combined Units
Annette Toth, Vice-President, ICBC