Only two medical exemptions for Premier Doug Ford’s beloved vaccine passport system are considered valid.
After the Ontario Ministry of Health spoke with CTV News on September 3, this news confirmed what many unvaccinated Ontarians feared. For most who refuse to be vaccinated, there will be no getting out of this: you will not be able to enjoy all of society freely.
The first exception is if someone has a known allergy to an ingredient in the vaccine or is unfortunate enough to have an acute allergic reaction.
Additionally, a regular doctor noting that a recipient has an allergic reaction is not enough. People who have an allergic reaction will need to pay for an allergist or immunologist to confirm that the allergic reaction was, indeed, an allergic reaction.
After their first dose of mRNA, the second exception is if someone suffers “severe” myocarditis or pericarditis — as if there is a non-severe form of heart inflammation. It is unclear what the standard for severe and non-severe heart inflammation is, but the Ministry of Health stresses that it is a rare condition, even though they singled it out.
“From a medical exception standpoint,” Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch says, “you either had a bad reaction to the first dose, or you have an allergy to a component of the vaccine, or you have a greater risk of having a negative impact because you have an underlying heart condition.”
Other side effects and long-term conditions, such as Bell’s Palsy, severe seizures (not classified as anaphylaxis), or paralysis, will not allow someone to be exempt from further vaccination. Such a person will still have to receive another vaccination to receive their vaccine passport to go on with their daily lives.
Fortunately, the list of exceptions will likely be expanded to include some of these side effects, Mariam Hanna, allergy section chair of the Ontario Medical Association, said in an interview.
However, she added that “To say you cannot get [a second] vaccine because you had a reaction to [the first] vaccine is really limiting.”
Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti added that because there is no active virus in the mRNA vaccine, exceptions will likely remain very limited, but he hopes that standardization is established soon for what counts as an acceptable exception.
In response to a mass influx of Ontarians asking for exceptions due to medical problems, the College of Physicians and Surgeons has said that these are “unfounded” and, thus, not valid reasons for remaining unvaccinated.
