The District is currently gathering official data on how many of its required staff have gotten their COVID-19 vaccination.
The municipality announced Dec. 9 that it was installing a COVID-19 vaccination policy for staff in life-saving or recreation program delivery roles.
Staff in those positions, which included firefighters, lifeguards, and public recreation program leaders, had until Jan. 14 to receive their first dose and until Feb. 18 to be fully vaccinated.
The District's Christina Moore told The Chief that the first date was not actually in the official policy wording.
As of Jan. 17, of the approximately 80 staff impacted by the policy, Moore said the municipality anticipates that about 3% are unvaccinated.
If an employee is unwilling to become fully vaccinated by the final deadline, or within a reasonable time thereafter without a medical exemption, they may be placed on unpaid leave if they cannot otherwise be accommodated, Moore said.
"Human Resources staff are working through these few situations on a case-by-case basis," she said in an emailed statement.
She said of the paid-on-call firefighters, who are subject to the same vaccination requirements as staff, the number of unvaccinated is negligible, and if any remained unvaccinated, they would step away from their role and no longer be included on the on-call list.
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, as of Jan. 11, 95% of adults in the Howe Sound region, of which Squamish is a part, have gotten their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 21% had received their third booster shot. For children, stats show that 49% of eligible kids five-years-old to 11 have had their first shot.
Vancouver Coastal Health is running vaccination clinics at the Sea to Sky Hotel: Jan. 19, 24 to 26, 31; Feb 1, 2, 7 to 9, and 14 to 16. Clinics run 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
