plans to introduce covid-19 vaccine passports come as a setback just as some restaurant and bar owners were starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, peter sergakis said tuesday.
sergakis is owner of dozens of establishments that will be affected by health minister christian dubé’s announcement on tuesday that proof of double vaccination will be required as of sept. 1 for access to non-essential services like bars, restaurants and gyms. he’s also the head of the union des tenanciers des bars du québec.
“we asked for the double passport in the beginning, before we reopened , because we needed at least some customers to come into our places. at the beginning, we only wanted to be open to double-vaccinated people. it was a starting point. now those people — single-vaccinated, double-vaccinated or not-vaccinated — they are already in our places. to me it’s going to hurt us more if we (require a passport) now.
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“we have assurances for now that employees are not required to be vaccinated or have this vaccine passport to work at a restaurant. it’s something that we are happy to receive as a decision because there is a labour shortage in our industry .
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