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opinion: we need all health-care workers on board with vaccination
hospitals are resorting to desperate measures to ensure staff members get immunized. they haven't been left with much choice.
oct 1 2021
3 minute read
broadly, hospital staff have very high rates of covid vaccination. but it needs to be 100 per cent.
ashley fraser
/
postmedia
by: mohammed adam
no group in this pandemic has made more sacrifices than doctors, nurses and other health workers who so heroically put their lives on the line to save thousands of others. that’s why they’ve become heroes in every sense of the word.
but now, as the fourth wave surges among the unvaccinated, health-care institutions are right to get tough with workers who refuse to take shots. these health workers, however small their number, are putting patients at risk of infection.
that can’t be tolerated. it’s why an increasing number of health institutions, the latest being the ottawa hospital, are right to take severe action, including suspensions or firings to protect vulnerable patients. it shouldn’t come to this, but health institutions have been left with no alternative. individual choice is a valued tenet, but in a pandemic, patient safety trumps everything.
the ottawa hospital announced last week that all staff who are not fully vaccinated will be placed on unpaid leave of absence by nov. 1. the edict also applies to all contractors and service providers, who must show evidence of immunization or be banned from hospital sites. the policy does not apply to those who have medical exemptions or exemptions under the ontario human rights code.
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medical staff have a special responsibility to do no harm to patients, and one can only hope that the unvaccinated minority among them will reconsider, get immunized and help put this scourge behind us.
the ottawa hospital’s decision follows similar policies by several ontario health-care institutions as the fourth wave of the covid-19 pandemic gathers speed in the province and around the country. ottawa’s largest long-term care home, the perley and rideau veteran’s health centre, has made vaccinations mandatory for staff, residents and contractors. the home warns that unvaccinated staff will be fired if they haven’t obtained their shots by the end of december. similar policies are being implemented across the province.
kingston health sciences centre said last week it had placed 136 employees on a two-week unpaid leave for failing to comply with the hospital’s vaccination policy. the university health network in toronto has also announced that staff who refuse to get vaccinated will be put on a two-week unpaid leave, and if they still refuse, will be fired. two hospitals in windsor — the windsor regional hospital and hotel-dieu grace hospital — last week suspended about 172 staff members for not getting immunized. since then, however, a number of them have complied.
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health institutions are resorting to these measures to fill a vacuum left by the ontario government, which has refused to undertake firmer action. government policy requires staff to get vaccinated, but leaves room for those who refuse to opt for getting tested instead. many experts however, say testing is no substitute for vaccination to combat the more contagious and deadlier delta variant.
no one wants to see doctors or nurses — who are the foundation of our health care, and who have provided an invaluable service since the pandemic — fired or suspended. but if you don’t have a medical or other valid exemption, it doesn’t make sense as an unvaccinated health-care worker to insist you can care for patients. health workers care for a lot of sick people with compromised immunities, and it boggles the mind why some of them would insist on working with such patients.
all said, the overwhelming majority of doctors, nurses and other health workers have been immunized against covid-19. they are leading by example. at the ottawa hospital, for instance, 99.6 per cent of medical staff and residents, and 93 per cent of employees, have been fully vaccinated. other ontario institutions report similar numbers.
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it’s a small minority who stand in the way. we can’t win this fight against covid-19 without our health workers. we need all of them on board.
mohammed adam is an ottawa journalist and commentator. reach him at nylamiles48@gmail.com
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