Jessie Mombourquette, Lethbridge College HCA student, practices restraint techniques.

Blocking access to healthcare facilities will be banned thanks to a new regulation unveiled Tuesday by premiere Jason Kenney.

There has been no word whether Alberta would receive fire-breaker measures to help bend the curve until the announcement of the protest restrictions. Kenney said more restrictions would punish those who are vaccinated.

“I think by definition we know that this group of the population is least likely to comply with any public health measure. It is a paradox with no easy solution to it.”

There are currently 17 per cent of Albertans who have not yet received their first shot of any COVID-19 vaccine. There has been a sharp increase in first dose vaccinations since the vaccine passport was first announced in Alberta. A one day difference of nearly 11,000 first dose vaccinations occurred one day after the announcement.

While Kenney believes restrictions to be ineffective due to the contrarian nature of the unvaccinated portion of the population, the perspective is different among students at Lethbridge College.

Arianna Ormrod, a student of the nursing program at Lethbridge College says she is excited that something is being done to address the protests.

“I am really excited, it would be better if they weren’t there. Hopefully, it helps improve the safety of everyone at these facilities.”

Ormrod is originally from B.C. and says protests are frequent events, though in recent days B.C. has started to debate if they should ban specific protests, including ones on healthcare facility properties.

Jessie Mombourquette, a student of the health care aide program at Lethbridge College believes that restrictions are a good thing at this time.

“I feel like it’s appropriate. Most of the people in healthcare facilities are vulnerable, it’s going to be our job to help them.”

Mombourquette says she is looking forward to her future career despite the potential challenges that lay ahead.