Monday’s Richmond city council meeting has two speakers lined up to talk once again about vaccine mandates.
Last week’s council meeting got raucous as audience members peppered council with questions – calling out from the gallery – as Jasmine Piao spoke about her opposition to the city’s vaccine mandate.
Piao was scheduled to speak again this Monday at the 7 p.m. council meeting about the city's emergency management plans, but her name has been removed from the agenda.
On the agenda are Mike Ingel, a Richmond resident who wants to speak on the city’s COVID-19 policy and Teresa de La Boursodiere, who will speak on the city’s vaccine mandate, passport requirements and the city’s rodenticide ban.
City council voted in the fall to require all city employees to show proof of vaccination, but this expired on April 8.
Thirty-nine city employees refused to show proof of vaccination, and they were put on unpaid leave.
Three unions, representing the city’s fire fighters, inside workers and outside workers, grieved the vaccine mandate.
In mid-March, a mediator ruled that they could return to work and were entitled to backpay to Feb. 21.
One reader challenged the Richmond News’ label of “anti-vaxxer” in its reporting of last week's meeting, although the News called some audience members “apparent anti-vaxxers.”
They said they were fighting for “bodily autonomy” and “freedom of choice" -- although they also listed possible harmful (albeit unsubstantiated) effects of the COVID vaccine.
All pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines sold legally in Canada are approved by Health Canada.
