Quebec delays mandatory vaccination for health-care workers

After standing firm on its position all week, Quebec has decided to give unvaccinated health-care workers one last chance to change their minds before being suspended from work without pay.

Health Minister Christian Dubé announced Wednesday the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers has been pushed by a month to Nov. 15, after an analysis of various scenarios in the network showed services would be severely affected across the province if the mandate came into effect Friday as planned.

“We would find ourselves adding undue pressure on our network, and especially on the vaccinated health workers who have been at the front for months,” Dubé said. “The risk at the moment is too high, and it would be irresponsible to play dice with Quebecers’ health.”

About 96 per cent of Quebec health-care workers have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine so far. Dubé said statistics over the past few months indicate a few thousand more could get vaccinated by the new deadline.

The analysis that led to the decision — which considered an easing of some parts of the mandate, such as accepting partially vaccinated staff — revealed Quebec hospitals would likely lose about 600 beds and 35 operating rooms, and that 35 per cent of long-term care homes would suffer a significant reduction of services, on top of existing shortages.

In the best-case scenario, Quebec would have lost 10,000 to 12,000 health-care workers instead of more than 22,000 as of Friday, but that would still have been too significant a loss, Dubé said.

In lieu of mandatory vaccination, unvaccinated health-care workers who provide direct service to the public will need to undergo COVID-19 testing at least three times per week. Visitors and caregivers at health and social service centres will still need their vaccine passports to enter, and any newly hired staff will need to be adequately vaccinated.