Kelowna business owners are not looking forward to enforcing the use of the COVID-19 vaccine card when it launches next month.
A third of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce members say they “strongly oppose” the vaccination card. But 57% say they support some sort of vaccine verification system for non-essential activities if it means business can get back to normal.
“Our members have strong feelings on this matter,” Chamber President Jeffrey Robinson said in a press release on Wednesday.
“The common ground seems to be a desire to get back to normal, but there are profound differences as to whether the obligation of some private companies to refuse service to unvaccinated customers is compatible with that goal,” Robinson said.
Some business owners are concerned about the potential for conflict if they refuse entry to people without a vaccination card, says chamber manager Dan Rogers. They want to know what government support they will get in launching the card, he said.
“There has to be clarity so that employees don’t come into unfair conflicts with customers. We encourage the government to re-examine the implementation timeline so that companies can fully understand and reasonably plan what the government is asking them to “do,” he said.
From September 13, people will be required to show a vaccination card to enter restaurants, town halls and recreation centers, casinos, ticketed events such as concerts and hockey games, and areas of office buildings where services are provided to the public.
After October 24th, people will be denied entry to such places unless their vaccination card indicates they have received the required two vaccinations.
According to the government, the vaccination card will be used until at least January 31, 2022, but could be extended or replaced by a federal version.
Rogers says everyone is unlikely to be vaccinated for a number of reasons, and he wonders if they will be locked out of non-essential premises forever.
“Not everyone will get the vaccine, and neither should the government force them. How will the economy and business work in this environment in the long run?” he said.
The chamber asked its 1,000+ members about their views on the vaccination card, and more than 25% responded.
57 percent said they support a vaccine verification system for non-essential activities, while 36 percent opposed it. 31 percent said they are currently thinking about how to restrict access to their store, while 61 percent said they don’t.
Almost two-thirds said the government should provide them with an inexpensive to free COVID-19 rapid test kit that can be used for customers without a vaccination card.
