On Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that he would not make COVID vaccines mandatory for health care workers, suggesting that such a mandate could collapse the system.
“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,” said Ford.
“Having looked at the evidence, our government has decided to maintain its flexible approach by leaving human resourcing decisions up to individual hospitals.”
Ford has long been under pressure to institute such a mandate like the ones enforced in British Columbia and Quebec but has so far been reluctant to follow suit, saying it’s a balancing act of numbers.
Last month, the Ontario Hospital Association attempted to pressure Ford into implementing a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, going so far as to argue that some healthcare workers would quit if one were not implemented.
Clearly, Ford disagrees, as do the numbers when one considers how many would be forced out of work should such a mandate be enforced (roughly 15 per cent, according to a response letter penned by Ford).
This sudden decision comes less than a month after Quebec threatened to suspend over 10,000 nurses for refusing the vaccine — a threat the provincial government could not follow through on due to nurses standing their ground.
In Alberta, the Alberta Health Service is currently stalling, having extended its deadline for healthcare workers to get vaccinated to November 30, despite claiming that 94 per cent of their workers are fully vaccinated.
When 28,000 casuals are included in this figure, however, the total immunization of the province’s various healthcare drops to roughly 90 per cent; and only 76 per cent of casuals have submitted proof of vaccination.
Despite having more vaccinated — and thus less of a reason to mandate vaccines — the AHS is adamant that the mandate is necessary.
“We stand by the mandatory immunization policy, and it will be fully implemented,” said AHS President and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu. “We are extending the deadline to give all employees more time to submit their proof of vaccination and, if they haven’t yet, to get fully vaccinated. We’re providing more time so our workforce is as safe and robust as it can be.”
It is currently not clear whether the AHS will reverse their decision after seeing Ontario do a 180 on their plans and watching the Quebec government lose a game of chicken to their own workers, but a precedent has been set.
