Quebec delays vaccination mandate for health workers by a month

MONTREAL—After weeks of warning health-care workers they would be suspended without pay if they were not vaccinated against COVID-19 by this Friday, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé on Wednesday granted a one-month reprieve.

Dubé said 14,000 health-care workers in the public and private systems still aren’t fully vaccinated, and it would be “irresponsible” to stick to the deadline because of the risk of labour shortages in an already strained system.

“The risk is too high,” he told reporters in Montreal, adding that the government wants “to give a last chance to the unvaccinated.”

Quebec first announced in August that health-care workers had until Oct. 15 to get vaccinated or face suspension without pay. The new deadline is Nov. 15, Dubé said.

And while the government decided to give a break to unvaccinated workers, they will not be completely spared new measures.

Starting Monday, all unvaccinated health-care workers in the public sector will be tested at least three times a week, and the government isn’t ruling out requiring regular testing in the private sector, Dubé said. Unvaccinated workers, he added, would also lose their “COVID-19 premiums,” which add up to eight per cent to workers’ pay.

Health workers are also facing pressure from their professional orders to get vaccinated. On Tuesday, the orders that regulate licensed practical nurses and respiratory therapists said members who are not fully vaccinated by Friday would not be able to work. The decision followed similar moves by the orders that regulate nurses and doctors, both of which have said they would suspend the licences of unvaccinated members starting Oct. 15.

Dubé suggested Wednesday those deadlines would also be extended to give workers several more weeks to get vaccinated before having their licences suspended.

Meanwhile, health officials reported 512 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and seven more deaths. Hospitalizations rose by seven, to 298. There were 75 people in intensive care, an increase of three patients compared with the prior day.