MANDATORY VACCINATION
New rule for health sector
In an effort to protect the vulnerable, Quebec is implementing mandatory vaccination for anyone who works in or visits health and social service centres across the province as of Oct. 15, the government announced Tuesday.
The decision was made following public health recommendations amid an increase in hospitalizations — mainly among the unvaccinated — as the province enters the fourth wave of the pandemic, Health Minister Christian Dubé said at a news conference alongside Premier François Legault and public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda. It applies to both public and private establishments.
“Our health network is already under a lot of pressure, particularly in the Montreal region,” Dubé said. “We cannot therefore accept that workers put vulnerable people at risk.”
In its initial plan last month, the government said the vaccine mandate would only apply to workers who come into prolonged contact with patients. Following hearings held by a National Assembly committee and recommendations from public health, the government decided to apply the measure to anyone working in or visiting a health or social service centre — including employees such as secretaries.
Dubé said he heard from doctors who pointed out all staff is “in contact at one point during the day with people who are serving the patients.”
“(Arruda) listened quite a bit to all those comments, and I think that's the right thing to do, is to go for 100 per cent of the employees,” Dubé said.
He added the decision to implement mandatory vaccination wasn't easy, because “we don't like to force people (to get) vaccinated.”
Those who have not received two doses of vaccine by mid-october will be suspended without pay.
“We think that the system — for the patient as well as for the employees — needs to be more secure, and this is the reason we have accepted the recommendation (from public health),” Dubé said.
Ahead of the news conference Tuesday, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec's ethics committee said it considers mandatory vaccination for health-care workers acceptable as long as the measure remains temporary. In January, the group had said it would be best to avoid the measure on the grounds of freedom of choice, but it said Tuesday the context of the pandemic has changed.
Hospitalizations in Quebec are much higher this month than they were last month — going from 55 to 171 — and experts predict they will continue to increase in the coming days and weeks, Legault said Tuesday. Part of the concern surrounding these increases — as has been the case since the start of the pandemic — is the pressure they are putting on Quebec's already overwhelmed health-care system.
“The virus is here to stay, and we'll have to learn to live with it,” Legault said, echoing comments made by Dubé last week. “This means accepting a certain number of COVID patients in hospitals, and that means we need more nurses.”
Quebec is not lacking hospital beds, but rather nurses to staff them, Legault said, adding that his teams are doing everything they can to rectify the issue. They plan on potentially bringing nurses out of retirement, offering them incentives, and delegating responsibilities to other health-care staff.
“We're turning over every stone; it's keeping me from sleeping,” Legault said. “We're looking at all of this right now. It's a big priority for our government, to fill all the nurse
Our health network is already under a lot of pressure ...
positions in the health network.”
Dubé said Quebec hospitals have the capacity to treat some COVID-19 patients, but he worries unvaccinated patients will flood the system and cause delays for others.
“When we have 20 (hospital) entries per day, it means that we will have to take care of those 20 people that mostly are unvaccinated,” he said.
“The rate of hospitalizations, as you see — around 95, 100 — has been fairly stable. But each day, 20 new patients are coming in, and we're not able to address the list of people waiting for a surgery because of those people.”
He added that while hospitalization numbers are more stable now than during previous waves, patients being admitted to intensive care are staying there longer.
“We need to look at the level of volume in hospitalizations, but also the level of people in intensive care,” Dubé said.
As of Tuesday, 87 per cent of Quebec's eligible population has received a first dose of vaccine, leaving 13 per cent unvaccinated. Legault is calling on vaccinated Quebecers to try to convince just one other person who is hesitant to get their shot.
“We have to convince them with information,” he said, “but we must remain respectful. We must keep our national cohesion.”
Quebec recorded 515 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, including 86 in Montreal.