¶ Bonnie Henry
Dr. Bonnie Henry is a Canadian public health official based in Victoria, British Columbia. She serves as the Provincial Health Officer for the British Columbia Ministry of Health. She was appointed to this position in 2018, and has been responsible for BC's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the drug overdose epidemic.[1]
Henry is a partner of the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases[2] and a member of the leadership council for the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network.[3] She formerly served as vice chair of Immunize Canada.[4]
¶ History
Even before the declared COVID-19 pandemic, Henry was deeply immersed in pandemic preparedness as an area of study.
Henry was co-author of the British Columbia's 2012 report titled "Pandemic Response Plan for Logistics of Antiviral Distribution." This report established detailed procedures for the stockpiling and distribution of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and Zanamivir (Relenza).[5]
She co-authored a paper in 2018 that proposed a public health emergency preparedness framework to promote resilience, alongside colleague Adalsteinn Brown (who would go on to co-chair the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table and direct the Institute for Pandemics at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, where he was also Dean.)[6]
¶ Pandemic influenza
Henry was also a member of the Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Task Group, with whom she authored guidance titled "Canadian pandemic influenza preparedness: Public health measures strategy" published in June 2019.[7] Another member of the committee is Brian Schwartz, who joined Brown as Co-chair of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.[8]
In January 2018, the group published "Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: Health sector planning guidance."[9]
¶ COVID-19
The BC COVID-19 Strategic Research Advisory Committee (SRAC) reports to Henry. SRAC was "established to serve as a bridge between the Provincial Health Officer, government decision-makers and the BC health research community” during the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]
On March 23, 2020, Henry ordered all health care professionals to reduce in-person medical services, while increasing their use of telemedicine.[11]
On November 18, 2021, B.C. Supreme Court justice Robert Jenkins dismissed a constitutional suit against Henry that alleged the provincial government broke the law by prohibiting religious gatherings. Plaintiff Devin Klassen had argued that creating sanctions for those violating orders moved the situation into the criminal realm, making it a federal issue. Justice Jenkins disagreed, saying in his ruling, “[a]lthough there are sanctions, those are necessary to be able to enforce the mandatory compliance needed for the protection and health care of all British Columbians.” He found the orders were created for “the protection and health of the public in an effort to stop COVID-19’s spread.” Jenkins said Henry made the orders using authority granted to her by the province. That power, Jenkins said, is within the authority of the Constitution Act.[12][13]
On January 17, 2022, Henry's office issued an order requiring teachers and employees at educational facilities to report their COVID-19 vaccination status, under new powers delegated to regional health authorities.[14]
On July 26, 2024, Henry announced that the province no longer considered COVID-19 a public health emergency and ordered all remaining public health orders issued in relation to the emergency be rescinded. While the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for healthcare workers was lifted as a result, a requirement to disclose vaccine status remained in place for anybody working in a healthcare facility including employees, contractors and volunteers.[15]
¶ External links
Biographies. Province of British Columbia. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.01.18-070834/https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/biographies ↩︎
Bonnie Henry. National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.02.08-022020/https://nccid.ca/partner/bonnie-henry/ ↩︎
Council Member Biographies. (2017, December 11). Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. https://web.archive.org/web/20211019212020/http://phn-rsp.ca/bios-eng.php ↩︎
Allison, D., Gemmill, I., Henry, B., & Appleton, M. Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness & Promotion. Mount Sinai Health System. Retrieved April 22, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220420022716/https://eportal.mountsinai.ca/Microbiology//education/pdfFiles/AppletonCCIAP.pdf ↩︎
Henry, B., Marra, F., & Foggin, T. (2012). Logistics of Antiviral Distribution. Government of British Columbia. https://web.archive.org/save/https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/reports-publications/bc-pandemic-influenza-antiviral-distribution-plan-2012.pdf ↩︎
Khan, Y., O’Sullivan, T., Brown, A., Tracey, S., Gibson, J., Généreux, M., Henry, B., & Schwartz, B. (2018). Public health emergency preparedness: a framework to promote resilience. BMC Public Health, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6250-7 ↩︎
Henry, B on behalf of the Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Task Group. (2019). Canadian pandemic influenza preparedness: Public health measures strategy. Canada Communicable Disease Report, 45(6), 159–163. https://doi.org/10.14745/ccdr.v45i06a03 ↩︎
About Us. Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. Retrieved September 6, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230906033605/https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/about/#schwartz-brian ↩︎
Henry, B on behalf of the Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (CPIP) Task Group. (2018). Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: Health sector planning guidance. Canada Communicable Disease Report, 44(01), 6–9. https://doi.org/10.14745/ccdr.v44i01a02 ↩︎
Strategic Provincial Advisory Committee (SRAC). Health Research BC. Retrieved January 18, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230118182711/https://healthresearchbc.ca/strategic-provincial-advisory-committee-srac/ ↩︎
Henry, B. (2020, March 23). COVID-19: Important Update from the Provincial Health Officer. College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia; British Columbia Ministry of Health. https://web.archive.org/web/20220901064126/https://www.cpsbc.ca/files/pdf/2020-03-23-Important-Update-from-the-Provincial-Health-Officer.pdf ↩︎
Jenkins, R. (2021, November 19). 2021 BCSC 2254 Klassen v. British Columbia (Attorney General). Courts of British Columbia. http://archive.today/2022.01.04-223904/https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/21/22/2021BCSC2254.htm ↩︎
Hainsworth, J. (2021, November 22). B.C. court dismisses constitutional suit against Dr. Bonnie Henry. Victoria Times Colonist. http://archive.today/2022.01.05-035918/https://www.timescolonist.com/coronavirus-covid-19-local-news/bc-court-dismisses-constitutional-suit-against-dr-bonnie-henry-4785829 ↩︎
Henry, B. (2022, January 17). School staff member vaccination status reporting. Government of British Columbia. https://web.archive.org/web/20230330163719/https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/covid-19/covid-19-pho-order-school-staff.pdf ↩︎
COVID-19 public health emergency in B.C. declared over. (2024, July 26). CBC News. https://web.archive.org/web/20240727173422/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-s-top-doctor-ends-covid-19-public-health-emergency-1.7276698 ↩︎