Chance of vaccine mandates ending in January 'next to zero', Ontario science table head says
CTV
The head of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table is not optimistic that vaccine certificate mandates will begin to go away early in the new year.
When the provincial government announced its roadmap for gradually reopening the province through the fall and into the spring of 2022, it said proof of vaccination requirements for places like restaurants, sports facilities and casinos could begin to be gradually lifted around Jan. 17. The government said this would be based on pandemic trends at the time, following Christmas and the return to classrooms.
However, Dr. Peter Jüni, the scientific director of the COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, told Newstalk 580 CFRA's "Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron" that he does not believe that will realistically be the case.
"When I look at what's happening right now and when I see what's happening in Europe, the probability that we drop them in mid-January is next to zero per cent," he said. "We'll have just experienced the Christmas bump. We will be challenged a bit. Things hopefully go better with the third dose rollout … so, taken together, this just means the certificates are here to stay for longer than January."
Jüni has said in the past that the certificates are meant to be temporary and he still believes they will be phased out in Ontario, but it will likely be spring when that happens.
