Most northern Ontario hospitals impose vaccine mandates on staff

Sudbury -

The Ford government has announced they will not impose vaccination mandates for healthcare workers, leaving the decision up to individual hospitals.

Here in the north, some hospitals are keeping things status quo --with testing requirements for unvaccinated employees -- while others are putting a mandate in place.

In Sudbury, Health Sciences North has put a deadline on when workers have to get their shot.

“Employees who have not provided evidence of first dose of COVID-19 vaccination will be on leave without pay after Nov. 12 and terminated after Nov. 26,” said Dominic Giroux, HSN CEO.

"Employees who do not have their two doses of COVID-19 vaccination will be on leave without pay after Dec. 7 and terminated after Dec. 21."

While 93 per cent of HSN employees are vaccinated, Giroux said the vaccine mandate could mean up to 60 employees will face termination in the near future.

“We do not want to lose employees," he said. "This is not a decision that we made lightly. We took our time. This has been a measured approach. We want to protect our patients. We want to protect our colleagues and their families. We want to avoid outbreaks of COVID-19 like we’ve had this weekend.”

Giroux said the majority of Ontario hospitals that have the mandates in place, and are seeing vaccination rates up to 98.5 per cent.

Elsewhere, the hospital in Timmins already has a mandatory vaccine policy for employees, and the Sault Area Hospital will have a similar mandate in place Nov. 8.

“At this time, we are working with approximately 70 of our 1,766 active employees who remain not yet vaccinated," said CEO Ila Watson

"While we are committed to continuing to work with our employees, the overall safety of our people, public and patients is paramount.”

The North Bay Regional Health Centre plans to continue with its policy that requires all unvaccinated employees to complete a COVID-19 education program, as well as an antigen test every seven days.

In Sudbury, not only will HSN staff be required to be vaccinated, so will all visitors and designated care partners as of Dec. 6. The Timmins hospital is taking its policy one step further, having care partners also provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within seven days of their visit.