Quebec is backtracking on its enforced COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health-care workers, government officials announced Wednesday.

After pushing back its deadline multiple times, Health Minister Christian Dubé said the province will abandon the measure altogether, as the health-care network can’t afford to lose the thousands of non-vaccinated employees.

The loss of unvaccinated staff would have had a “devastating effect on the system,” according to the health ministry.

The province’s plan to suspend unvaccinated workers as of Nov. 15 would have forced the health network to cut services and would have compromised efforts to improve working conditions for all employees.

While 97 per cent of those who work in the heath network are vaccinated, 14,000 haven’t received a first dose, and of those, 5,000 are in direct contact with patients. [So what, they’ve been in direct contact with patients, many of them infected, for nearly two years now. By now they’ve either have had it or aren’t susceptible.]

While vaccination will no longer be mandatory for current employees, Dubé added that all new health-care hires will have to be vaccinated.

Unvaccinated staff will be obliged to get tested for COVID three times a week, and those who don’t comply will be suspended without pay.

The government had originally set an Oct. 15 deadline for all workers to be vaccinated but extended it in the hopes of convincing the remaining staff to get their shots.

Source: Global News

Ontario won’t mandate COVID-19 vaccines for hospital workers

Premier Doug Ford has announced he will not mandate COVID-19 vaccines for hospital workers, saying he’s “not prepared to jeopardize the delivery of care to millions of Ontarians.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Ford said mandatory vaccines for hospital workers is a “complex issue” that could result in the “potential departure of tens of thousands of health care workers.”

Ford said the government will keep monitoring the situation but has decided for now to maintain a “flexible approach by leaving human resourcing decisions up to individual hospitals.”

He said the “small number” of COVID-19 outbreaks in Ontario hospitals is not worth enforcing a provincial vaccine policy.

Six of Ontario’s 141 hospital are currently experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak, Ford said.

His statement also pointed to news of surgery cancellations in British Columbia due to staff shortages after its vaccine mandate took effect.

‘THE RIGHT DECISON’

Health Minister Christine Elliott took questions from reporters after Ford’s announcment. She said while “this is the right decision for right now,” the province is open to reevaluating if more outbreaks occur.

Elliott said that if Ontario was to implement a mandatory vaccine policy there would be a “significant job losses.”

Ford said that approximately 15 per cent of Ontario’s health-care workers are believed to be unvaccinated.

Source: CTV News