Vaccine declaration and follow-up screening at SFU

Thank you all for your patience. There are many moving pieces regarding our return to campus. I am heartened by the public health announcements of the past week and am confident we are taking the necessary steps to make our campuses safe.

I have had many conversations this week with public health, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training, and the presidents of BC’s post-secondary institutions. We have received clear guidance on additional measures our sector can implement. Though we have been given some autonomy, any additional measures will be considered in cooperation with public health. 

As a next step in our return to campus safety plan, we are working to implement mandatory self-disclosure of vaccination status for all those who access our campuses, including students, faculty, staff and visitors. This would be a confidential process, accompanied by regular rapid testing for those who are not vaccinated or choose not to disclose their vaccination status. I am part of active conversations with our partners to ensure access to the resources we need to implement this approach, including rapid testing kits. We are working to determine a process and platform to manage this confidential data. We are also having conversations with our faculty and staff associations and unions, as well as our student societies.

We are launching an anonymous survey of our students, faculty and staff shortly, which will help us anticipate rapid testing requirements. Please complete the survey when you receive it by email. 

I am pleased with the clear decisions of the past week regarding masks and the BC Vaccine Card. We are already seeing the impact on vaccination registration due to the BC Vaccine Card. This is a meaningful approach, and will have a significant impact on vaccination rates. 

Thanks again for your patience as we continue this work. I will share more detail as I have it. 

Sincerely,

Joy Johnson
President and Vice-Chancellor
Simon Fraser University