Some Kingston public sector employers move forward with mandatory vaccination policy

Following the lead of the provincial and federal governments, many large scale public employers in Kingston are implementing or considering mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for staff.

The city of Kingston has yet to follow the lead of the other two levels of government.

A statement from the municipality reads in part: “While encouraging all staff that are able, to be fully vaccinated, the City of Kingston has currently not made it a mandatory requirement.”

The municipality says it is still gathering information related to mandatory vaccinations, and will be closely monitoring the policy introduced by the city of Toronto.

So far Toronto is the only municipality in Ontario to announce mandatory vaccinations for staff.

Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Queen’s University have both announced that they will be implementing provincially mandated vaccination policies.

KHSC employees that don’t get vaccinated will be required to take an educational module that informs them of the risks of being unvaccinated and the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination.

“Starting September 7, 2021, when the provincial COVID-19 vaccination policy takes effect, all Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) health-care workers who have not provided proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be required to be tested for COVID-19 and demonstrate negative test results at least once every seven days. This would include those who have provided proof of medical exemption,” KHSC wrote in a statement provided to Global Kingston.

KHSC also stated that more than three quarters of their health care workers have complied with the policy and the health care organization continues to follow up with employees that are yet to respond.

Queen’s University says it will be providing more details on mandatory vaccines for staff and students later this week.
Move in day at Queen’s is slated for September 4.