UHN tells all staff to get vaccinated by Oct. 8 or face termination

Toronto’s University Health Network says it now requires all staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Any employee who remains unvaccinated by late October will face termination, the hospital network said in a statement emailed Friday night.

UHN, which includes Toronto Western, Toronto General and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, said it launched its new vaccine policy this week.

As of Friday, UHN said it had more than 900 employees who had either not provided their vaccination status or had indicated they were unvaccinated.

“We indicated that they should have their first shot by Sept. 8, which allows for a second shot by Oct. 8,” the statement said, adding that UHN will “work with anyone in the group to answer questions.”

Anyone unvaccinated by Oct. 8 will be placed on unpaid leave for two weeks, UHN said. “If it is still their decision at the end of two weeks that they will not be vaccinated after that date, their employment at UHN will end,” the statement said.

UHN previously had employees taking COVID tests at home and reporting results three times a week, as part of a pilot.

“UHN cares for people who are extremely ill and often immune compromised. We are doing everything possible to protect our patients and the people who care for them,” said UHN spokesperson Gillian Howard.

“The Delta variant is extremely contagious and we are seeing the cases increase so we are doing everything we can to keep patients and employees as safe as possible,” said Howard.

UHN’s latest policy comes just days after Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, announced vaccine policies would be mandatory for sectors such as health care.