Rustad Says He Regrets Having Been Vaccinated for COVID

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad declined to directly answer questions today about a video where he says he regrets having been vaccinated against COVID-19 and accuses health officials of trying to control the population.

“Now I’ve had three shots of the vaccine, I wish I hadn’t quite frankly,” Rustad said in the video. “That’s one of the things that’s changed in my thinking, the so-called vaccine, the COVID mRNA shots.”

There was much uncertainty in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rustad said, so the BC Liberal opposition he was then part of decided to support the government and the orders from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

But he later changed his mind.

“When I talked to Bonnie Henry about it, I started to realize it wasn’t so much about trying to get herd immunity or trying to stop the spread, but it was more around shaping opinion and control of the population,” he said.

The BC NDP, which released clips on YouTube and X, said the video is of Rustad talking on July 23 to the BCPS Employees for Freedom Society. (The BCPS Employees for Freedom Society confirmed Rustad was speaking to them, but said the event took place June 18.)

The society’s website says the group is “profoundly concerned” by policies in workplaces requiring proof of vaccination and that those policies violate employees’ medical privacy and human rights.

Reporters asked Rustad half a dozen questions about the video during a news conference this morning, but he did not elaborate on the context of the video, which he said he hadn’t seen, or why he regrets having been vaccinated.

“I see the NDP are attacking me about this and I understand how they want to distract away from the real issues,” he said, mentioning gang violence and housing policy. “This is David Eby’s attempt to hide from his policies and approaches and his failures in British Columbia.”

Asked if he believes in vaccine science, Rustad sidestepped the question.

“Clearly in my opinion what needs to be done in this province is we need to make sure our health-care system is good, that it’s available. One of the things that bothered me the most about Dr. Bonnie Henry is she would not let our unvaccinated nurses and doctors back into the system. I think that was a horrendous problem.”

The vaccine mandate for provincial employees was lifted in July when the COVID-19 public health emergency ended, but the provincial government still requires workers in public health-care facilities to report their vaccine status.

Rustad was in Surrey announcing that a BC Conservative government would exempt up to $3,000 a month from personal income tax for rent or mortgage payments. The exemption would be available to households earning up to about $250,000 a year, he said.

“When you ask the average person today about the issues that they’re being faced with, what they’re being faced with is putting food on the table and paying the rent, and that’s what we’re focused on,” he said.

Speaking at a campaign event in Burnaby, Eby said Rustad’s comments about vaccines matter and it’s important that British Columbians know his views.

Vaccines saved many lives in the province and allowed the global economy to reopen earlier than it otherwise would have, he said, adding that Henry’s work was aimed at keeping everybody safe.

There is a choice in the election between the NDP, which has a plan to connect everyone in the province to a family doctor, Eby said, and Rustad, “whose health policy is driven by conspiracy theories from the internet.”

In recent years the province has faced challenges including the pandemic, inflation, high interest rates and wildfires, Eby said, adding that people need to consider what the representatives they choose will base their decisions on as unforeseen challenges arise.

“Will it be based on science, will it be based on best practice, or will it be based on internet conspiracy theories?”

Giving the example of Quebec’s measles outbreak, Eby questioned how Rustad, with his skepticism about vaccines, would respond.

“How will he react to a measles outbreak in British Columbia? What will he say? Will he encourage people to get vaccinated? Measles kills kids. These are not minor considerations.”

Eby also criticized Rustad for changing what he says depending on who he is talking to.

“He says one thing in a meeting that he thinks is secret, that won’t get out, and he says another thing in public,” Eby said. “You can’t trust John Rustad on health policy, on what he says, because he’s always saying something different to different groups.”

The B.C. election period officially began on Saturday and voting day is scheduled for Oct. 19.

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