ROTHENBURGER – Vaccine cards and the sudden switch to ‘fast food’ service
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER of invention, and some Kamloops restaurants have been getting creative in order to legally skirt B.C.’s vaccine card law.
Whether their methodology qualifies as necessity is a matter of opinion, but they don’t want to enforce use of the card so they’ve found a loophole of sorts — call it fast food.
One definition of fast food, thanks to the Oxford dictionary, is “food that can be prepared quickly and easily and is sold in restaurants and snack bars as a quick meal or to be taken out.”
Welcome to Kamloops’ newest “fast food” restaurant. All it took was a piece of coloured paper with those words hand-written with a Sharpie and attached to the sign at the popular Jamaican Kitchen on the Tranquille Road corridor.
On the front door is a notice to patrons that they must order their food at the front counter before sitting themselves down. A poster beside it says, “Vax or no vax, mask or no mask, we respect your right to choose under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Welcome & thank you for supporting our business.”
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Are the people working at these so-called “fast-food” places required to be vaccinated?
My guess is they are not. In fact, this may be the case at all food establishments. An unvaccinated cook may be a super spreader onto themselves.
Yes, I sympathize with small restaurants that have had a rough time of it. But as you’ve stated, reports from those going with the system suggest they are doing at least okay…better than they were before it started, I assume that means. Now we have a situation where those who wish to or need to eat cheaply or those just not thinking this through are putting themselves and others at risk while they sip that leisurely coffee, watch the kids play, or whatever. Consistency sounds a LOT better to me. I won’t eat anywhere where this loophole is being used but that doesn’t keep others from easily putting more of us at risk.
It was all about lessening the burden on the health care system. At this point then, if one needs to use medical facilities for Covid-19 related matters it should be required to show proof of vaccination.