MPI sets road test proof of vax rules

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This article was published 23/11/2021 (1441 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many Manitoba driving instructors are cheering new vaccination proof requirements announced Tuesday by MPI, but others aren’t so keen.

As of January, everyone taking a drivers’ road test in Manitoba will have to be fully vaccinated or provide a negative COVID-19 test.

The new MPI policy also applies to third-party individuals working with MPI, including consultants, contractors, students and instructors. It comes into effect Jan. 3.

It means anyone taking a road test or getting a cognitive assessment completed will have to provide a negative COVID-19 rapid test result at their own expense if they are unvaccinated, and Drivers Z program driving instructors will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 48 hours of when they’re scheduled to meet with students, the public, or any MPI employees.

Contractors and consultants who are working on MPI property and may come into contact with employees will have to provide a negative result from the past 48 hours before arriving, if they don’t have proof of vaccination.

For some driving instructors who are contracted by MPI, the new policy just makes sense.

Paul Phangureh, owner of Pan Am Driving School in Winnipeg, said he’s “totally in favour” of the new rules.

“Right now, it’s not a requirement by the government but we do ask the client if they have been vaccinated, and 99 per cent of the time, they are,” says Phangureh, who has also had a client ask to see his vaccination card.

Phangureh is fully vaccinated and said he hasn’t faced any pushback from clients who are not. “Everywhere you go these days, you have to be fully vaccinated, right? So why not in the car, when you’re sitting right next to each other?”

Blumenort driving instructor Noemi Martens said she’s also in favour of the policy. “It makes me feel safer,” she said in a brief phone interview Tuesday.

However, for others, there’s some trepidation about requiring proof of someone’s health information.

Although she’s fully vaccinated herself, Classic Driving School owner Kathy Funk said she doesn’t want to ask her clients in and around the Steinbach area.

Funk made the choice to get vaccinated so she can visit family out of province and because vaccination lowers the risk of severe illness if she were to contract COVID-19, but she said she respects others’ choices not to get vaccinated.

“I prefer for people to make their own choices,” she said.

Funk, who has been offering driver’s education for 25 years, said she requires driving students to be masked while in the vehicle and to stay home when sick. She’s not in favour of additional rules, saying they have become “overwhelming.”

“I do meet a lot of people who are not vaccinated in my car. I ask a lot of students whether they’re vaccinated or not, and there’s a lot of them that are not, and they don’t intend to get vaccinated, but I’m OK with that.”

Two other Steinbach-area driving instructors contacted by the Free Press declined to comment about the new policy.

The policy also means “all individuals (students and instructors) participating in the Driver Z program have the right to request proof of immunization prior to the appointment. Service will be denied to individuals if proof is not provided,” according to MPI’s news release Tuesday.

The new policy is an extension of the recently announced requirement for all MPI employees to be fully vaccinated or undergo COVID testing every 48 hours. Those requirements also come into effect Jan. 3.

MPI spokesman Brian Smiley said the Crown corporation wanted to give its employees and third-party contractors “ample notice” of the policy.

“We want to do our part in protecting not only our staff, but also people who visit our premises,” he said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay