Ontario, Quebec fear vaccine mandates will affect health care. These hospitals disagree | The Canadian News

Ontario and Quebec will not impose a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for healthcare workers for fear it will lead to a labor shortage that will damage the healthcare system.

However, three Canadian hospitals with vaccination mandates in effect for nearly two months say otherwise.

Holland Bloorview, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and SickKids told Global News that patient care has not been disrupted since their policies began on September 7.

“At Holland Bloorview, having a mandatory vaccination policy has not at all affected our ability to care for our patients,” said Julia Hanigsberg, president and CEO of the Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto.

“We have not received rejection from our team. In fact, for the most part, all the healthcare workers I have talked to feel safer because they know their colleagues are vaccinated. “

The remarks come after the Ontario and Quebec governments said Wednesday that they would not make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers in their jurisdictions.

Both provinces mentioned a potential impact on the ability to care for patients, despite the fact that Quebec indicated that 97 percent of health workers are vaccinated. While the portion of the unvaccinated appears small overall (14,000 have not received a first dose), around 5,000 of them are considered to be in direct contact with patients. It is not clear in which department or area of ​​the health care system those employees work.

Before Wednesday, Quebec was on track to require inoculation by November 15, but said the loss of unvaccinated personnel would have had a “devastating effect on the system.”

In October, when the province extended its previous deadline for health workers, the health minister said the system was slated to lose between 14,000 and 22,000 workers. The most recent data, 97 percent vaccinated, suggests an increase in vaccinations as the now-broken deadline approached.

In neighboring Ontario, Prime Minister Doug Ford said the province’s election came after speaking with hospitals and healthcare partners about the potential impact of a general policy, including “real-world evidence here in Ontario and in all of Canada. ” The government spent time gathering data from the healthcare industry, he said, before making the decision on Wednesday.

Ontario also noted the negative impact of a similar policy in British Columbia, where more than 3,000 workers were laid off, forcing the cancellation of surgeries and diagnostic tests.

While the provincial rule is now a thing of the past, individual hospitals can introduce their own vaccine mandates if they wish.

Global News reached out to the Ontario government to get an idea of ​​how many unvaccinated healthcare workers there are in the province and what positions they hold, but received no responses per post.

At Holland Bloorview, which cares for youth and children with disabilities, approximately 70 percent of its patients are not yet eligible for vaccination. Introducing a mandate was “the only reasonable thing to do,” Hanigsberg said.

“I can tell you by talking to the families of the children who are patients, that from their perspective, it gives them enormous confidence to know that when they come to our hospital, everyone who is caring for their child has been vaccinated. ,” she said.

Approximately 1,004 Holland Bloorview employees are fully vaccinated, an inoculation rate of 99%. To date, five people have been laid off, including a full-time clinical member, three part-time or casual clinic staff, and a non-clinical worker. The hospital declined to elaborate on exactly what their positions were.

Meanwhile, at CHEO Ottawa, a spokesperson told Global News that its vaccine mandate has had no impact on patient care, with more than 99.7 percent of full-time staff and 98.9 percent of part-time and casual employees are fully vaccinated.

“Decisions on vaccine mandates are now up to each Ontario health care organization,” CHEO President and CEO Alex Munter tweeted Thursday.

“CHEO will maintain our policy, which is now fully implemented. Like all other local hospitals, new hires must also get vaccinated. “

In an update of October 29CHEO said of nearly 4,000 employees, nine full-time workers chose not to get vaccinated. In addition, 14 temporary and part-time employees, who also work in other health care organizations, are also not vaccinated.

“These individuals have made the decision not to work at CHEO and their membership with us has ended,” the hospital said in a statement.

At SickKids in Toronto, a spokesperson told Global News that of 8,258 employees, 98.6 percent are fully vaccinated; 114 employees, including corporate, clinical and research staff, both on-site and remotely, have been assigned to unpaid leaves of absence for not being vaccinated or for not completing certification.

In addition, 10.5% of the staff are partially vaccinated, and of these, 30 have clinical roles that could include nurses and related health workers. But 100 percent of active physicians, residents, fellows, and medical students are vaccinated.

“We are hopeful that all staff members who are not currently fully vaccinated will be fully vaccinated as soon as possible and return from leave,” the spokesperson said.

“Patient care has not been interrupted and we do not anticipate future interruptions as a result of the vaccine mandate policy.”

Advocates have been quick to condemn both governments for failing to require vaccination in the sectors.

Dr. Naheed Dosani, a hospice physician and health equity leader at Kensington Health in Toronto, previously told Global News that the choices are “against science.”

“This is really unfortunate and really surprising news, especially considering that policies like vaccination mandates for healthcare workers have the potential to keep vulnerable patients accessing healthcare in places like hospitals safe.” said.

Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist at the McGill University Health Center, told Global News Quebec that the decision could backfire.

“Health workers who are not adequately vaccinated will be at higher risk of needing to be hospitalized,” he said.

At Holland Bloorview, Hanigsberg said the hospital will continue to implement mandatory vaccination.

“It contributes to team morale because the team feels more secure, it contributes to patient and caregiver confidence, and the more we do this in a unified way, the safer we will all be,” he said.

“I would not want to be the executive director of the hospital that does not have this policy and becomes the place where people who are not willing to get vaccinated want to go to work … we all know better than that, and I think we can all have the courage of our leadership to implement mandatory vaccination to protect our patients. “

– with files from Saba Aziz.

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