Visitors to the London Health Sciences Centre‘s hospitals will soon need proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
The hospital network announced Monday that it’s developing a new COVID-19 vaccination policy for all visitors, including care partners.
“We haven’t actually established an exact date for implementation yet, but anticipate that it will be in the next few weeks at most,” LHSC’s chief medical officer Dr. Adam Dukelow said Monday.
“In terms of exceptions, there will be limited exceptions and we’ll share more information and details once the policy has been finalized. In the meantime, we wanted to signal to our community that we’re heading in this direction and encourage anyone that’s anticipating an upcoming visit to our hospitals to get vaccinated if they’re eligible to do so.”
Dukelow added that LHSC wanted to let people know now so that they can prepare for future visits.
“While there will be limited exceptions, we do want to remind our community at this time that it takes at least up to five weeks from first dose to be considered fully vaccinated. Those who anticipate an upcoming visit to LHSC may wish to book their vaccination now, as we anticipate this policy will be implemented in the coming weeks.”
LHSC says as of last Wednesday, 92 per cent of its staff and 98 per cent of physicians and residents at LHSC have submitted proof of vaccination.
“As of Monday morning, I can share that physician numbers are now up to 99 per cent,” Dukelow added.
LHSC’s vaccine policy for staff requires everyone to get both doses and the 14-day waiting period no later than Oct. 22.