New Brunswick’s new vaccine passport system came into effect Wednesday, meaning that people are now required to be fully vaccinated before entering non-essential services like cafes, bars, restaurants, gyms and cinemas.
Indoor concerts, sports events, and organized gatherings like wedding and funerals will have the same stipulation. Churches and faith-based groups are exempt from the rule, instead being required to prove that they have surveyed their members, and achieved a 90% vaccination rate among them.
The system is not honour-based, like current border rules, which require people travelling into New Brunswick to register in advance, but with no enforcement or government presence at border crossings.
In the case of vaccine passports, businesses like Sackville cafe The Black Duck are being asked to actively screen their customers, requiring a government issued ID and a proof of vaccination.
That has Black Duck co-owner Al Barbour concerned about a few things: training his employees to do the screening, having enough staff to do it, and also the possibility that even vaccinated customers will be discouraged from stopping in for coffee or a meal.
Barbour says he’s been trying to prepare the Black Duck for their new obligation to screen customers, but feels the process is still unclear.
“It’s one thing to say we should be checking for that people are fully vaccinated,” says Barbour, “but how do we do that? How do I train my staff as to what an acceptable proof of vaccine is?”
The province of New Brunswick says that people can use a number of different ways to prove their vaccination status. People can show:
- their MyHealthNB record;
- a paper copy or photo of their immunization record from an RHA clinic, pharmacy, or Public Health;
- proof of vaccination from another jurisdiction;
- or a Medical exemption certificate.
Vaccination proof must also come alongside a government-issued ID.
So far, information published by the provincial government does not include examples of acceptable records or certificates, so it seems that staff at non-essential businesses will need to use their discretion as to what qualifies.
Being in a border town and a university town with students from all over Canada and the world, Barbour has reason to expect some differences in the paperwork that people present.
Barbour says when he called the province’s Business Navigator line to help figure out the rules, he was told that his staff can accept almost anything as proof of vaccination.
“I was told that all vaccinations count, and I was told that if a vaccine passport is shown to me, and it’s in a foreign language, to just accept it,” says Barbour. “Also that the dates on the vaccination passport or the vaccination record don’t matter. So if someone was vaccinated two days ago, they can still come in the restaurant.”
Barbour says he was told businesses are not required to check the actual information on the proof of vaccination. “We’re just being asked to go through the motions,” says Barbour. “It’s hugely disappointing.”
“I want COVID to be over. I want my staff and my customers to be safe. But I think it would be really great to do it in a way that makes sense, that’s just not vaccine theatre,” says Barbour.
Barbour says the government is using restaurants and other public spaces as a carrot to entice people to get vaccinated. That carrot is working. Both pharmacists and public health report an upsurge in vaccination appointments since the new policy was announced one week ago. But Barbour says the province is not providing adequate training or information to the businesses they are asking to enforce the new rule.
“In our business, we’re all about training,” says Barbour. “We all have to have a food handling course. We have Safe Serve courses for serving alcohol.” And if workers are expected to work as “bouncers” there should be training or information available for that, says Barbour.
“There was a news conference where this big idea was put forward,” says Barbour. “There’s a promise that in a couple of weeks or months, there’ll be a QR code thing which involves us probably having to purchase some equipment. But other than that, it’s crickets.”
“I have no idea what I’m really supposed to do,” says Barbour. “My staff have no idea what they’re supposed to look for. I have no idea if this is going to turn people away from our business. I have no idea how to navigate this whatsoever.”