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Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry took a shot today, Nov. 1, at doctors who are issuing what she believes are fake certificates exempting people from getting COVID-vaccines.

“I’ve been working very closely with the College of Physicians and we’ve put out guidance for physicians on what constitutes a valid medical exemption and what constitutes fraud, to be frank,” Dr. Henry said during a news briefing today. “The College’s primary purpose is to protect the public and part of that means ensuring that health care providers are not posing a danger to those we serve.”

A Kelowna-based web site called EnableAir.com was taking applications for exemptions from wearing masks or getting COVID-19 vaccines.

The application part of the website is currently not functioning but Dr. Stephen Malthouse, a Denman Island resident and a practicing physician registered with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., confirmed with iNFOnews.ca that he is authorizing the site to issue certificates using his signature.

“My job is to look at peoples’ applications and to see if they have a valid reason for receiving an exemption letter,” he said.

He authorizes mask or vaccine exemptions or both but would not say what is written on the certificates as valid reasons or what they cost to obtain.

“What the public health office has come out with are guidelines, not policy, not law, for people getting an exemption,” Dr. Malthouse said. “They have to have a near death experience, i.e. anaphylaxis, from shots from two different manufacturers.”

Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction to a component (allergen) in the vaccine. Since the allergens in the Pfizer vaccine are different from those in the Moderna vaccine, it’s almost impossible for someone to be allergic to both, Dr. Monika Naus, the medical director of the Communicable Diseases and Immunization Service at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, told iNFOnews.ca last month.

“That’s the only legitimate reason,” Dr. Naus said. “Even this is coming into question now because it’s not clear that the severe allergic reactions being seen after these vaccines are actually due to the allergens in the product.”

READ MORE: Trying to get a medical exemption to the COVID vaccine? Forget it

Malthouse countered by arguing that no one even knows what all the ingredients are in the vaccines.

“Lots of people are losing their jobs because they’re being forced to take a shot they don’t want to take and that they can’t give informed consent for because we don’t even know the ingredients of the shots,” he said. “They should have a choice in taking or not taking.”

It's up to the College to enforce the rules, Dr. Henry said. Dr. Malthouse would not say whether he is under investigation or not. The College said, in an email, that the identity of doctors under investigation is protected by privacy laws but, if disciplinary action is taken that becomes public.

Dr. Henry, at the news briefing, pointed out that the World Health Organization’s list of the top 10 public health measures that have saved lives puts vaccinations at the top.

“If now is not the time that you start to believe in the importance and the value of vaccinations in protecting people, then I don’t know when is,” Dr. Henry said. “If people are in our healthcare system and not recognizing the importance of vaccination, then this is probably not the right profession for them, to be frank.”

READ MORE: Two operating rooms closed in Kelowna, surgeries postponed in Kamloops due to lack of COVID shots

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