Ontario won’t force vaccines on hospital workers, Doug Ford says
Ontario won't force hospital workers to get COVID-19 vaccines, leaving that decision up to individual medical institutions, says Premier Doug Ford.
Recently, I wrote to hospital and health-care partners from across Ontario with a number of questions about the impacts of a province-wide vaccine mandate for hospital workers, especially in light of the challenges other provinces have faced when pursuing similar policies. We have reviewed the responses we've received alongside real-world evidence here in Ontario and across Canada," Ford said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
This is a complex issue. But when the impact of the potential departure of tens of thousands of health-care workers is weighed against the small number of outbreaks that are currently active in Ontario's hospitals, I am not prepared to jeopardize the delivery of care to millions of Ontarians. Having looked at the evidence, our government has decided to maintain its flexible approach by leaving human resourcing decisions up to individual hospitals.
We will continue to monitor the situation in our hospitals very closely and take additional action if warranted. At this time, however, the evidence tells us that because of the measures currently in place, including vaccination rates, regular testing and rigorous (infection prevention and control) practices, our hospitals remain safe for patients and staff members who care for them."
Ford also said that looking at other provinces with vaccine mandates, like British Columbia and Quebec, such a move can negatively impact the care patients receive."
B.C., he added, has had to cancel surgeries and diagnostic tests because of the sudden termination of more than 3,000 health-care workers after implementing a vaccine mandate. Quebec has now abandoned theirs altogether because of the significant risk an abrupt loss of thousands of health-care workers poses to delivering critical services."
The move was urged by a number of health associations, and leaves any decisions on mandatory vaccines up to hospitals - with a number of them already having decided in favour, including Toronto's Sick Kids and University Health Network.
Staff in long-term-care homes in Ontario are still required to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 15 or face termination.
Prior to the hospital worker announcement, Health Minister Christine Elliott was asked about the issue in the legislature.
It has been almost three months since Sick Kids, CHEO and Bloor Rehab announced their mandate policy," said NDP Health Critic France Gelinas. Their policies are in line with the recommendations from the Ontario Medical Association, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario and the (province's) science table. By comparison, the government announced this Monday, Nov. 1, that it had received the information it had requested to make a decision on vaccine mandates for health-care workers in Ontario's hospitals ... Is this government ready to take its responsibility to mandate vaccinations or will you continue to lead from behind?"
Elliott noted that this is something that has been under discussion for a period of time. It's not a simple situation, as the member will also know. Some hospitals have already made their own decisions with respect to mandatory vaccination; principally, children's hospitals because of the fact that children aged five to 11 cannot be vaccinated as yet.
However," she added, it is also an issue of health human resources. We know that our health human resources have been through a very difficult time, caring for COVID patients over the last 20 months, and so we need to determine with the responses from the letter that the premier sent out how many people will be left, will not be able to continue to work if we do bring forward a mandatory vaccination policy."
She also noted that in British Columbia, it's mandatory policy has led to surgery cancellations because they don't have enough health human resources ... we need to make sure that should a mandatory vaccine policy be brought in, that we would still have sufficient health human resources to care for all of the people who are in hospital with COVID and for other issues, and to be able to deal with all of the patients who have been waiting for a very long period of time to have hip or knee replacements or cataract surgeries, all of the other things that we need to catch up on."
Gelinas, however, accused the government of being more worried about public opinion than patient safety, than putting an end to this pandemic," and said 142 hospitals with their own plans brings confusion. It brings conflict. The science table is clear - it said, requiring that hospital workers be vaccinated is an evidence-based policy that protects Ontarians.' But this government refuses to listen to science, refuses to take its responsibility, refuses to lead this province."
Those who support mandatory vaccinations for health-care workers say it would make it easier on hospitals and avoid a patchwork of policies across the province, and also make it more difficult for staff to switch employers from those that require vaccines to those that don't.
The province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, has said it is the duty" of health-care workers to get their shots.
Quebec had set a deadline for health-care workers to be vaccinated or face unpaid leave or even dismissal, but has since extended it. On Wednesday afternoon, it announced that vaccines will be required only for new hires, not existing front-line staff.
COVID rates in British Columbia and Quebec are much higher than in Ontario. B.C., with a population of 5.2 million, reported 584 new cases on Wednesday. Quebec, with a population of 8.4 million, had 525.
By comparison, Ontario reported 378 new cases out of a population of 14.8 million.
In British Columbia, about 3,300 health-care workers are on unpaid leave after failing to comply with mandatory immunization, meaning fewer operating rooms have been available. Some non-urgent surgeries - already put off because of the pandemic - have been further delayed.
After its mandatory vaccine policy came into effect on Oct. 22, Toronto's University Health Network said that 153 staffers were let go. Sick Kids and hospitals in Windsor and Kingston have also lost staff.
Meanwhile, the Toronto District School Board, one of a handful of boards that has mandated vaccines for its staff, says of its 39,845 staff, some 100 permanent and 693 occasional staff have been put on an unpaid leave of absence. However, most of them have not worked at the board, the country's largest, this year.
Of the 100, 13 are elementary teachers and three are secondary teachers.
The board recently extended its deadline - to mid-December - for staff to comply.
Spokesperson Ryan Bird told the Star the move was to support service levels to staff, students and our community - including ensuring the appropriate number of staff are in place to address any shortfalls as a result of the implementation of the procedure - and to review medical and creed-based accommodation requests."
In Ontario, more than 88 per cent of those 12 and up have received a first COVID vaccine dose, and almost 85 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy