Quebec decision to delay mandatory vaccination sign of tough decisions for provinces
Global News
On Wednesday, Quebec's health minister postponed by a month a requirement for health-care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying it would have been "irresponsible.''
Other provinces will face challenges similar to Quebec’s as they attempt to implement vaccine mandates for health-care workers, a health policy expert said Thursday.
On Wednesday, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé postponed by a month a requirement for health-care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying it would have been “irresponsible” to suspend thousands of unvaccinated workers at a time when the health-care system is already fragile.
“I think that every health-care system in Canada is in a similar situation to what Quebec is in, because of the system actually operating far above its normal capacity at this point in time,” John Church, a professor at the University of Alberta who studies health policy, said in an interview Thursday.
In Alberta, employees of the province’s single health authority must be fully immunized against COVID-19 by the end of the month.
Like in Quebec, where only four per cent of health-care workers are not fully vaccinated, even a small reduction in the number of health-care workers able to practice would have a big impact, Church said.
“Under normal circumstances, the system would be able to adjust to that, but we are in extraordinary circumstances,” he said, adding that military nurses have been deployed in the western province and intensive care units are at nearly double their normal capacity. “Every single health-care worker, under these circumstances matters,” he said.
Dr. Katharine Smart, the president of the Canadian Medical Association, said the difficult situation Quebec found itself in is the result of larger systemic problems that predate the pandemic.
“What’s happened in Quebec is really highlighting the legacy of underfunding and under-planning in the system that has left them with no wiggle room,” she said in an interview Thursday. Canada faced a shortage of nurses and other health-care professionals before the pandemic, she said, which has only grown worse.
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