Hamilton’s mayor to propose mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for city employees

Hamilton’s mayor says he will be exploring the possibility of mandating all city workers or employees to get both COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Fred Eisenberger told Global News he hopes to move the policy forward during a special council meeting on Thursday that will feature staff reporting on a mandatory COVID vaccination verification policy for council consideration.

“We’re going to be looking at a policy to require a vaccine verification, two doses for all city employees and anyone that’s visiting our facility going forward,” Eisenberger told 900 CHML’s Bill Kelly.

The proposed policy would require employees to be fully vaccinated with two shots by a yet-to-be-determined deadline date.

“I anticipate that we’ll have a robust policy that will require our employees to demonstrate that they are double vaxed or provide a justifiable reason why they haven’t,” Eisenberger said.

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The mayor said with public health revealing 95 per cent of the city’s recent infections coming among those not vaccinated, it’s the city’s obligation to undertake all necessary precautions to protect their workforce.

Exemptions are likely to be allowed for staff who can’t be vaccinated for health or human rights reasons, but Eisenberger says there could be “serious implications” for employees who outright refuse.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Eisenberger said

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“But that may mean that more stringent penalties or, you know, work issues will come to bear as a result of their refusal to do so.”

Pre-pandemic Hamilton employed roughly 6,000 employees prior to 1,200 non-essential, part-time employees being discontinued until further notice in April of 2020.

The mayor says about 75 per cent of city staff work with the public, so ensuring they’re vaccinated is necessary to protect the community.

“We have to take steps to ensure that we not only protect the individual employees, but the public at large when they’re interacting with those employees, ” said Eisenberger.

On Thursday, the city of Toronto mandated that all city workers or employees get both COVID vaccine doses by Oct. 30, with an exception for those who are “legally entitled to accommodation.”

The Ontario government said it will be requiring anyone in all high-risk settings across the province either to be vaccinated or to complete regular testing as part of a vaccine policy mandate, the latter which is not included in the City of Toronto’s policy.

The province said high-risk settings include any workers at hospitals, home and community care service providers, paramedic services, post-secondary institutions, retirement homes, women’s shelters, group homes and licensed home daycares. Vaccine policies mandated by the province must be in place by Sept. 7.