COVID-19 vaccination passports coming to Ontario ‘within weeks’ in attempt to avoid further lockdowns

Premier Doug Ford is reversing course and bringing a COVID-19 vaccination passport system to Ontario in hopes of avoiding another round of restrictions and lockdowns as new cases continue to rise, the Star has learned.

The guidance will be clear. In order to access some non-essential services and events you will have to be vaccinated," a senior government source said Friday.

The passports are expected to be used for indoor restaurant dining, gyms, theatres, concert venues and sporting events.

No specific date has been set for the system to go into effect, but the goal is to have it ready within weeks," added the source, speaking anonymously to discuss internal deliberations.

The primary reason for these new measures is to ensure we don't need to shut down the Ontario economy during the fourth wave."

The plan will go to cabinet early next week after more than a month of growing pressure from businesses, health organizations, opposition parties and mayors.

Their push had met with resistance from the premier's office and others in the Progressive Conservative government, despite a steadily increasing number of new COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

But an August surge in daily infections and hospitalizations - both of which have more than tripled - forced the government's hand, along with the experiences of other provinces and places like the United States, where hospitals in areas with low vaccination rates are already reaching their breaking points.

Our vaccination rate is good but Delta is deadly," said the source, acknowledging there will be pushback in some quarters to the plan, which will be similar to those in Quebec and British Columbia.

It will cause some hardships."

And the government has a message for anyone who refuses to get their shots but bristles at a passport system that may keep them out of restaurants or the movies.

If you're not vaccinated and you're out and about with Delta, you're a risk to yourself and a risk to others," said the source. People's lives are at stake. The premier has been clear that the best way to keep ourselves and our families safe is to get the shot."

It's not yet clear whether the plan will allow for negative tests in lieu of vaccinations. Work on the policy will continue over the weekend, ironing out details on how to handle people who have legitimate medical reasons for not being vaccinated and for children under 12, who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated.

Until now, the province has been telling Ontarians they can download their vaccination confirmation from a government website. Some people have experienced trouble and improvements are planned.

We're updating the provincial vaccine proof online," the source said. The goal is to make that easier to access on mobile devices to ensure it can be widely used while protecting people's health information."

The major banks, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and the Toronto Blue Jays are among the businesses, educational institutions and hospitals that have announced their own vaccination requirements recently.

Seneca College, for example, requires anyone coming on campus to be fully vaccinated.

Those developments have led to widespread calls for the Ford government to take action to prevent a confusing patchwork of requirements across the province.

This is an announcement that should have been made weeks ago," said Green Leader Mike Schreiner.

Other provinces are well on their way to releasing vaccine certificates to protect residents and help small businesses stay open. But Doug Ford once again has Ontario playing catch-up."

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, who has been urging for a passport system since July, applauded the move.

I will continue to urge Doug Ford to make it happen as soon as possible," he said.

Ontario's 34 regional medical officers of health were the latest to call for a provincewide system, writing to chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore this week that they were prepared to go it alone in the absence of action from the government.

Other proponents include the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the Ontario Medical Association and the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, among many.

Chamber of Commerce president Rocco Rossi argued passports could be essential to minimizing or avoiding future restrictions.

The last thing anyone wants is to be shut down, but that's what will happen if we don't use every tool in the tool kit," he told the Star earlier this month, noting that passports could allow capacity limits on gyms or restaurants to be eased.

On Tuesday, Moore told reporters that businesses in sectors with capacity limits could adopt vaccination passports to have a better chance of convincing the government to relax them and allow more customers in.

Critics worried that the government would hold out too long and be forced to scramble to get a system in place should the fourth wave of the pandemic surge at an even faster pace as schools resume in-class learning and cool weather returns, forcing more activities indoors.

Moore acknowledged two weeks ago that public health officials were preparing aggressively" for a bad turn and warned of a difficult fall and winter" ahead.

Recently, the government has been quietly signalling that its opposition to a provincial vaccination certificate system could be easing, saying, the province will monitor COVID-19 epidemiology and vaccination rates to adapt and evolve as needed."

Weeks ago, Ford objected to a passport system saying it would create a split society" and voiced a hard no" to the idea.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1