More than 300 employees at Ottawa Hospital are partially vaccinated against COVID-19 or have not received any vaccines and therefore face the possibility of being placed on leave without pay when the hospital’s vaccination policy takes effect. November 1st.
A hospital spokesperson confirmed to Global News on Thursday that 318 staff members received letters this week reminding them of the looming deadline to receive a full course of vaccines.
Of those recipients, which included full-time, part-time and casual employees, 129 were staff members who had received a dose of the vaccine, while 189 had not received any injections to date.
After the November 1 deadline passes, anyone who is not fully vaccinated will receive unpaid leave, in accordance with hospital policy.
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So far, 96 percent of Ottawa Hospital staff are considered to be fully vaccinated with both doses.
“We will continue to work with staff who are not fully vaccinated to make sure they have all the information they need regarding their options,” the hospital spokesman said in a statement.
The news was first reported Thursday by CTV Ottawa.
Other hospitals and health care institutions in Ottawa have already put unvaccinated staff on leave, and most of the deadlines for full vaccination have passed October 15.
Montfort Hospital on Ottawa’s east end said this week that while 100 percent of its physicians and 97.5 percent of the remaining staff are fully vaccinated, 31 people were placed on unpaid leave as a result of their vaccination policy.
There are 119 employees on leave without pay at Bruyère, the continuing care hospital and the academic health institution.
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario licensed 47 staff members, while Queensway Carleton Hospital, in the far west, licensed 37 employees.
All Ottawa hospitals report overall vaccination rates of more than 90 percent among their workforce, higher than the city average.
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Reference-globalnews.ca