No decision on vaccine mandate for health-care workers coming this week as Liberals accuse Ford government of 'dithering'
The Ford government won’t make any decision on whether to mandate vaccines for health-care workers this week, despite an earlier suggestion from Health Minister Christine Elliott promising clarity on the issue.
Health Minister Christine Elliott told reporters on Monday afternoon that a decision on whether to require that all health-care workers be fully vaccinated would “probably” be coming before the end of the week.
However, about an hour later a spokesperson for Elliot confirmed to CP24 that “a decision will not be coming this week” without providing any further timeline.
The about-face comes as Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca accuses the Ford government of dragging its feet on mandatory vaccines for health-care workers.
“It is not something that should have taken this long for anybody to deal with and I know that we have heard the minister and we have heard the premier and others talk about this but this should have been in place way back in July, August or September,” he told reporters at Queen's Park.
“Here we are just a few days away from November and there's still this back and forth, this sort of dithering dance that the government's doing and I don’t think it makes a lot of sense. We should have seen more decisive action taken on this quite some time ago.”
Premier Doug Ford reached out to hospital administrators and other stakeholders back on Oct. 15 to solicit their input on the idea of mandating vaccination for health-care workers and had given them until Oct. 19 to respond.
Since then a number of groups have come out in favour of a vaccine mandates for health-care workers, including the Ontario Hospital Association and the Ontario Science Advisory Table.
Ford, however, has continued to express concern about potential staffing impacts at hospitals.
Speaking with reporters at Queen’s Park on Monday, Elliott said that her government is still reviewing the responses to Ford’s letter but is concerned that mandating vaccines for health-care workers could have a disproportionate impact on resources at hospitals in some more rural areas of the province, particularly in Northern Ontario.
“I can't say whether it's the majority or not but I can tell you that we have received some responses that don't want mandatory vaccinations and others do. So it's something that we have to look at from a province-wide basis to make a decision that's going to be in the best interest of the health and well being of all Ontarians,” she said.
Some hospitals have implemented stronger policies
The Ontario government currently allows unvaccinated health-care workers to continue to attend work so long as they participate in a rapid testing program.
That said numerous hospitals have implemented stronger policies.
Last week The Hospital for Sick Children announced that it was putting 147 employees on unpaid leave for not complying with their vaccine mandate. The University Health Network also indicated that it planned to terminate about one per cent of its workforce for failing to comply with a similar policy.
“I’m not decided. I want to listen to what the experts have to say. I think that's really important,” Elliott insisted on Monday. “We want to hear from the hospitals and the experts, the epidemiologists, about what they have to say. This has got to be a science-based decision and based on the facts as we know them in different parts of Ontario.”
The Ontario Hospital Association has been calling for a vaccine mandate for all healthcare workers since July.
But Ford has expressed concern about implementing a policy here and has claimed that doing so could result in the termination of “tens of thousands” of workers.
He has also cited the experience of Quebec, which has had to push back a deadline for its healthcare workers to be fully vaccinated amid concerns that it would have to suspend more than 22,000 people.
The Ford government mandated vaccination for long-term care workers earlier this month amid data suggesting a number of homes had vaccination rates lower than 70 per cent.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.