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Two North Vancouver library staff face unpaid leave after COVID vaccine mandate

98.2 per cent of staff complied by deadline
LV library reopens2
North Vancouver District Public Library is putting two staff on unpaid leave for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Two North Vancouver District Public Library staff are being put on unpaid leave for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by the library's Jan. 21 deadline.

With 110 full-time and part-time staff members, that’s 98.2 per cent compliance.

Neither of the two unvaccinated staff requested an accommodation or exemption for human rights reasons, such as religious or health concerns, according to a library spokesperson.

“Throughout the pandemic, library staff worked hard to implement health and safety protocols for our colleagues and visitors to the library, so this policy is one additional measure we have in place to support those measures,” Meghan Crowe, communications co-ordinator for the library, said in an emailed statement.

Vaccine mandates have been coming into effect for employees who work across several North Shore municipal services. So far, the District of West Vancouver has put 17 unvaccinated staff (1.68 per cent of its workforce) on leave. While just one of the West Vancouver Police Department's 90 officer and civilian staff members failed to show proof of vaccination by the police force's Jan. 11 deadline. Only five District of North Vancouver staff members failed to get two doses or an exemption by the mandated Jan. 14 deadline.

City of North Vancouver workers, meanwhile, must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 25. The North Vancouver Recreation and Culture Commission has given its staff and volunteers a deadline of March 31.