Ford pressured to toughen vaccination requirements

Hold health-care workers, teachers to same standard as Tory MPPs, Del Duca says

Premier Doug Ford should apply the same standard to unvaccinated healthcare and education workers as he did to one of his own MPPs, who was booted from the Progressive Conservative caucus for refusing to get a COVID-19 shot, says Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca.

Del Duca and New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath used the expulsion of veteran MPP Rick Nicholls to turn up the pressure on Ford to toughen vaccination requirements issued earlier this week for hospital, long-term-care and school workers. Any of those who refuse to be vaccinated by Sept. 7 will be required to undergo regular testing.

Opposition parties have said that alternative is not strict enough, given the risks of transmitting infections to patients and pupils.

“We need him, Ontario families need him, to show the same kind of urgency that he did for his own caucus,” Del Duca said Friday.

“Let’s protect our kids ... in particular, those who are vulnerable, those below the age of 12 who are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine,” added the former cabinet minister, who has a daughter who is too young to be vaccinated. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in Ontario, better protections are the best bet for keeping schools open, Del Duca said.

The province reported 650 new infections Friday, the highest daily number in more than two months. The seven-day average of new cases reached 518, up about one-third in the last week and more than double the 214 reported two weeks ago.

Nicholls defied a deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday to get vaccinated, saying it was a “personal choice” and that he didn’t “want to be a sheep” — an apparent reference to the almost 75 per cent of Ontarians over 12 who have been fully vaccinated against the virus that has killed more than 9,400 people in the province. He will now sit as an Independent MPP. An exception was made for Scarborough Centre MPP Christine Mitas, who provided a statement of medical exemption.

Horwath maintains health-care and education workers should not be allowed to interact with patients or children unless they are vaccinated against COVID-19.

“It’s not enough for Doug Ford to protect the safety of his own team,” she said. “We need a mandatory vaccine rule in the education and health-care sectors now. Time is running out.”

A number of hospitals have announced vaccination policies that are tougher than the government’s, including mandatory vaccinations for new hires.