Niagara Health placed 85 unvaccinated employees on unpaid leaves of absence this week, two weeks ahead of its April 7 deadline for staff to either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or face termination.
The hospital system, which employs about 5,000 people, didn’t say how many of the 85 are doctors or nurses.
“Since Niagara Health announced our plans for a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy in October 2021, our workforce vaccination rate has increased from 92.8 per cent to 98.2 per cent as of March 24,” said executive vice-president Flo Paladino, in an email .
She said the number of staff who refuse to be vaccinated “continues to decline, and we expect it to decrease further leading up to April 7.”
Niagara Health’s original deadline for mandatory vaccination was in January. But faced with widespread staff shortages and a skyrocketing COVID-19 caseload due to the Omicron variant that month, it paused its plan.
When cases declined, on March 7 it set the new deadline of April 7.
Other hospital systems have fired staff for being unvaccinated.
Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Center in St. Catharines terminated 13 workers in January. Hamilton Health Sciences fired 178 workers who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Ontario’s chief medical officer of health is reinforcing that vaccination will remain one of the cornerstone interventions for our ongoing protection against COVID-19,” Paladino said.
“Dr. Kieran Moore strongly encouraged organizations that have not already done so to integrate COVID-19 vaccination policies into their existing occupational health and safety policies and procedures.”
Since Jan. 18, there have been 565 Niagara Health staff who tested positive for COVID-19, and 1,507 since the start of the pandemic.
The COVID-19 vaccination rate among physicians and credentialed staff is 99.2 per cent, according to Niagara Health data.
For more than a week, the number of patients in Niagara hospitals with COVID-19 has been on the increase, after falling steadily since January.
On Thursday, there were 31 patients with COVID-19 — up from 20 a week ago — and of those, 26 were being treated primarily for the virus.
Three patients are in intensive care, and so far this month 12 COVID-19 patients have died in Niagara hospitals.
Across Niagara, the vaccination rate continues to increase but at a snail’s pace.
On Wednesday, 509 doses of vaccine were administered across the region. Among the total population, 80.6 per cent of people have received two doses and 49 per cent have their booster shots, according to Niagara Region Public Health.
Gord Howard is a St. Catharines-based reporter with the Standard. Reach him via email: [email protected]