“that being said, we respect the right of individuals to choose to get the vaccine and will not be requiring post-secondary institutions in alberta to mandate vaccinations on campus,” said taylor hides, press secretary for advanced education minister demetrios nicolaides.
“there is also no mechanism that would allow institutions to require students to be vaccinated for in-person attendance on campus.”
but the legality of public post-secondary institutions requiring vaccines isn’t cut and dried, said u of c health policy expert lorian hardcastle.
she said provincial legislation doesn’t prohibit this type of policy.
“it’s really an ongoing issue, but to drill down on alberta’s situation, there’s nothing really to prohibit it,” hardcastle said. “human rights law does create some limits. if you’re going to mandate vaccines, you can’t just mandate it across the board. you have to make some policy to accommodate those who can’t get vaccinated. but that’s really the only legal limit.”
to date,
only one canadian post-secondary has mandated vaccines
: toronto’s seneca college. south of the border, more than 400 united states colleges and universities have done the same.
thomas said a campus vaccine mandate has become even more vital this week, after alberta
announced it would remove all covid-19 isolation requirements
and end all routine testing for the virus by the end of august, despite rising transmission rates.