Norfolk County council votes down COVID-19 vaccine policy for staff
Norfolk County will not require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
In a 5-4 vote Tuesday, councillors decided not to implement a vaccine mandate.
The policy would have required any staff members, volunteers or elected officials who chose not be vaccinated to be tested once or twice weekly - depending on their workload - at their own expense.
Coun. Kim Huffman said rejecting the policy undercut the county's own vaccine rollout and set a poor example for the community.
We have spent the last over a year as a council and as a board of health working on getting almost all of our residents who are eligible vaccinated," Huffman said.
For us to not to adhere to this policy as an employer, I'm flabbergasted."
Mayor Kristal Chopp opposed the motion, noting that the fourth wave of COVID-19 is effectively blunted in Haldimand-Norfolk, with 25 active cases between the two counties as of Wednesday.
Chopp said she was worried employees may choose to leave the county rather than feel coerced" into getting the vaccine or indefinitely" paying for rapid antigen tests.
I think it's a significant infringement on our employees who have been loyal throughout this time," she said.
Coun. Linda Vandendriessche countered that it would not be fair to put vaccinated employees at risk of infection from unvaccinated colleagues - who have a greater chance of carrying and transmitting the virus - and Coun. Amy Martin noted there was flexibility" in the policy to accommodate employees who do not want to be vaccinated.
In a report to council, human resources director Erin Anderson called the proposed vaccine policy reasonable and responsible" in that it would allow employees to safely return to work while protecting staff and members of the public against infection.
County staff would have been required to disclose their vaccine status by Nov. 1. As of Dec. 6, anyone not fully vaccinated would be regularly tested. Those who tested negative or failed to submit the test result on time would be sent off work without pay until testing negative.
All new hires would need to be vaccinated.
Chopp said she would have preferred to have the province create a blanket policy for public-sector employees rather than leaving the decision to individual municipalities.
If the premier believed that this is the solution, it should have been implemented everywhere," she said.
Norfolk and Haldimand counties share a health unit but the two councils have taken different approaches to staff vaccination.
On Sept. 21, Haldimand council approved a vaccine mandate for all county employees and volunteers that is nearly identical to the policy Norfolk councillors rejected on Tuesday.
Haldimand staff had until Monday to disclose their vaccination status, and all those who are not fully vaccinated or medically exempt from vaccination had to start regular surveillance testing as of Tuesday.
According to the health unit, 14 per cent of Haldimand-Norfolk residents over 12 are currently unvaccinated, with 82 per cent fully immunized against COVID-19.
J.P. Antonacci's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk.