Provinces may need broader COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the future: Duclos
Global News
Canada's health minister says he expects the country to reach a time in the COVID-19 pandemic when provinces consider implementing a broader vaccine mandate.
Canada’s health minister says he expects the country to reach a time in the COVID-19 pandemic when provinces consider implementing a broader vaccine mandate to counter rising cases.
Jean-Yves Duclos told a COVID-19 briefing on Friday that such a measure was not currently being contemplated in Canada, but his personal opinion was that the country would get there at some point.
“We know that COVID-19 will be with us for many more months to come, maybe even many years,” he said in French.
Given Canada’s fragile health-care system and aging population, Duclos said he thinks provinces and territories will consider a broader vaccine mandate over the next weeks and months, while stressing that it would be their decision to make.
“The only way that we know to get through COVID-19, this variant and any future variant, is through vaccination,” he added in English, while noting that other measures including personal protective equipment and testing are important as well.
He also noted the high number of hospitalizations involving people who are not vaccinated.
Of the 40,788 hospitalizations reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada as of Jan. 18, about 79 per cent have been unvaccinated people.
People aged 12 to 59 years old were 25 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 if they were unvaccinated, according to PHAC’s data between Nov. 7 and Dec. 4, 2021.
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