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Burnaby restaurants, stores hit by ‘fake’ orders placed by anti-vaxxers

This comes at a time when thousands of health-care workers refuse to get the jab
anti vax Protest2
Hundreds of anti-vaccine protestors gathered outside Vancouver City Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 1.

We’ve seen some pretty disturbing behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’ve witnessed grown adults freaking out on store staff simply because they were asked to put on a mask for a few minutes while shopping. We’ve seen people actually protest outside of B.C. hospitals, terrifying staff and blocking patients from accessing the buildings.

Now we’re seeing even more petty behaviour from Covidiots targeting restaurants and stores – all because these businesses are following B.C. health rules requiring masks be worn and/or scanning vaccine passport codes.

I was shopping for a gift recently in a small Burnaby shop and the clerk told me they had been hit by a few calls of people asking staff to pull together large orders of items under the guise of “wanting to be safe by not spending much time shopping.”

“We understood and went the extra mile because we can use all the business we can get,” said the clerk, who didn’t want the business named for fear of being targeted again. “And then these people just never show up. We’re sure it was a fake call because it’s happened twice recently and that’s never happened here before.”

I spoke with a Burnaby restaurant owner and then some serving staff at a second restaurant who all reported “fake” orders being called in during busy times.

“This isn’t just some coincidence,” said one server who handles the bulk of the takeout calls. “You don’t just suddenly have a bunch of people just not show up for their food. I don’t get it. We’re just following the rules set out by the government.”

It’s all just so petty and pathetic. Imagine spending your time doing something as childish as this.

More serious are the anti-vaxxers in health care in B.C. who have refused to be vaccinated and are throwing the system into potential chaos after being sent home.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix said 4,090 workers in the health-care system did not get one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine before the Oct. 26 deadline. These employees were dismissed from their jobs as of Tuesday and will be placed on unpaid leave. If they don't get their first jab by Nov. 15, they will be terminated.

"This is a necessary step but a solemn day because it has implications for those people and their families and for patients and their families. But it is what all of us need to do together to support one another in the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dix. 

To date, there are 126,343 workers in the health-care system and 119,627 of them are fully vaccinated. 

It’s just so infuriating to see people disrupting life all because they won’t take a safe vaccine.

  • With additional reporting by Alanna Kelly