COVID-19: Guelph Hospital’s employee vaccination policy remains in place

Despite the Ontario government’s announcement that it will not make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for hospital workers, Guelph General Hospital‘s mandate is not changing.

The hospital, along with several other nearby facilities in Waterloo Region and Wellington County, announced in September that staff, physicians, students, volunteers and contractors had until Oct. 12 to get fully vaccinated.

Anyone who was not vaccinated by that date was placed on unpaid leave. Anyone who still hasn’t been vaccinated by Nov. 9 risks being fired,  or losing privileges in the case of physicians.

On Wednesday, the province announced it will not be moving forward in enacting a province-wide vaccination mandate for hospital workers.

In a statement released, the Ford government said it is a complex issue but pointed to the negative impact a similar policy had on the health-care system in B.C., where more than 3,000 workers were terminated, forcing the cancellation of surgeries and diagnostic tests.

“Quebec has now abandoned theirs altogether because of the significant risk and abrupt loss of thousands of health care workers to deliver critical services,” the province added.

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Health Minister Christine Elliott has said hospitals are free to continue to implement their own mandates.

“Our current mandated vaccination policy has also been adopted by many other hospitals across the province and will not change at this time,” said Guelph General spokesperson Perry Hagerman said in an email on Thursday.

“We continue to make our decisions based on science and supported by infection prevention and control experts, and the provincial science table. Requiring all staff to be vaccinated not only helps protect them, but also adds an extra layer of protection for our patients, many of whom are very vulnerable.”

Hagerman added that 19 staff out of 2,000 are not in compliance with the policy.

— With files from Global News’ Jessica Patton