BC’s new Vaccine Card – Here’s what Nelson and Area Businesses need to know

The BC Vaccine Card is a digital code or printed document that shows the stage that your customers are at in their COVID-19 vaccine progress.

All British Columbians and visitors to the province now need at least one dose of vaccine to enter the businesses noted below. By Sunday, October 24, we’ll need both.

Not all businesses are required to follow the new guidelines.

Here’s a list of businesses that will be required to ask customers and clients for their BC Vaccine Card, and some specific details that will make it easier to support these local venues if you haven’t got your card or vaccine yet:

• licensed restaurants, pubs, bars and lounges
• night clubs, casinos, movie theatre
• fitness centres and adult recreational sport events
• indoor ticketed sporting events
• indoor concerts, theatre, dance and symphony events
• organized indoor events with 50 or more people (weddings, workshops, conferences)

Here’s a list of some of the businesses that won’t require your BC Vaccine Card for entry, provided they are not hosting organized events of 50 people or more.

• retail shops
• grocery stores
• health facilities and places of worship
• libraries, museums and galleries
• service centres and dealers for automotive, hardware and building materials
• outdoor recreation destinations

What about customers who haven’t got their card or vaccination, but still want to grab a bite or beverage?

If an unlicensed dining venue — like coffee shops or fast food restaurants — doesn’t provide table service, those without their cards can enter the premise, take their order from a main counter, and sit down to dine or drink, provided you and your party have masks. You can also support your favourite pub or restaurant by ordering take out.

The BC Vaccine Card requirement is in place until January 31, 2022 and could be extended.

Other BC Vaccine Card you and your staff should know:

• Proof of vaccination needs to be confirmed every time a customer comes into your business
• That applies to all customers aged 12 and over
• You and your staff can confirm a customer’s proof of vaccination one of two ways:
  (1) Visually – you can verify the person’s BC Vaccine Card on paper or on a person’s phone.
  (2) With a QR Code – your business uses the BC Vaccine Verifier app to scan the QR code in-cluded on the BC Vaccine Card on the person’s phone or paper BC Vaccine Card.
  (A sample of what the BC Vaccine Card looks like can be found at: gov.bc.ca/vaccinecard-businesses)
• Customers 19 and over also need to show a piece of government-issued photo ID
• Businesses shouldn’t request to see an employee’s proof of vaccination as part of the BC Vaccine Card program — unless the employee is attending as a customer.

Here’s some info that pertains to tourism venues and those businesses that see folks from out of town, and out of the country:

• If a person has proof of vaccination from another province, they can use it in place of a BC Vaccine Card.
• People from other Canadian provinces or territories must show: Provincially/territorially offi-cially recognized vaccine record and one piece of government photo ID
• International visitors must show: 1 — Proof of vaccination they used to enter Canada (Ar-riveCan). And 2 — Their passport

Got questions and need a quick answer? Call Service BC COVID 19 inquires + Passport Card help line

• Text number
  1-604-660-2421
• or Toll Free
  1-800-663-7867

For more information on COVID-19 Immunization in our area read our recent article: Freedom for Fall.