Quebec pushes back vaccine deadline to Nov. 15 for health-care workers
Despite repeated claims that the Oct. 15 deadline would not be pushed back, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé announced Wednesday he is giving health-care workers 30 more days to get their two vaccine doses.
Admitting that losing thousands of workers due to the vaccine mandate will cause Quebec to "run into a wall," the minister said workers in the health-care network will now have until Nov. 15 to get their two shots to avoid being suspended without pay.
In the meantime, workers in the public system who aren't vaccinated and have direct contact with patients will have to be tested for COVID-19 three times per week before their shifts, beginning on Monday. The measure could be extended to the private network, too, according to the health minister.
"Giving yourself a 30-day deadline is, therefore, reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances," Dubé said at a news conference Wednesday morning in Montreal, noting that the decision to postpone the deadline was a "difficult" one.
"And I have a last message for health-care workers who are not vaccinated yet: we are reaching out to you, and we sincerely hope that you will take this offer," he said.
"Please do it for yourself, for your loved ones. Otherwise, please do it for your colleagues, because they really need you."
Dubé also announced that all new hires in the health-care workers will have to be fully vaccinated, and reminded the public that caregivers and visitors must show their vaccine passport when entering a health-care facility. The policy does not apply to patients.
The Legault government had announced the vaccine mandate back in September as a warning to all health and social services workers to get immunized by Oct. 15, but on Wednesday the health minister acknowledged that the goal was unattainable.
About 96 per cent of health workers in Quebec have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the health minister said, but still there are approximately 22,000 workers who are not adequately vaccinated.
"We want to give the unvaccinated staff extra time to collect their dose, but I want to be clear: we will apply the mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers, but postponing the 30-day deadline is the best solution," he said, adding that he understands not everyone makes the decision to get vaccinated at the same speed.
Just yesterday in Gatineau, Dubé told a press scrum "there will be no change" to the Friday deadline, standing firm on the government's plans to enforce the sweeping vaccine mandate.
CRITICAL CARE WOULD HAVE CONTINUED, PROVINCE SAYS
Had the province gone ahead with its orignal deadline, there would have been a "considerable reduction" in healthcare in Quebec, according to the associate deputy health minister Dr. Lucie Opatrny.
The regional health boards conducted an analysis to determine where in the system were there unvaccinated workers and what the impact could have been. Dr. Opatrny said workers would have had to be shifted around to accomodate the loss of workers. Critical care, however, would have been maintained.
"Critical, and important, and urgent [care] would have still continued, because those plans had been worked on for weeks. So, it wouldn't have been a breakdown, but it would have been an important stress and an important reduction of services."
The delay comes one day after a Montreal lawyer filed an an emergency injunction in Superior Court contesting the validity of the government decree. The court challenge argued that routine COVID-testing is a better alternative to curbing the spread of the virus in the health-care network than mandatory vaccination.
Natalia Manole, who is representing more than 100 health-care workers in court, confirmed to CTV News she intends to proceed with the legal challenge and will ask the court to declare the vaccine mandate invalid under the law.
Dubé did not address the court case during Wednesday's news conference, but said one of his top priorities is to maintain a safe environment for people who work in and visit health-care settings.
"If they [workers] are not vaccinated, I need to have something else," he said, adding that "it's wiser to get the vaccine as opposed to being tested three times a week."
UNION APPLAUDS POSTPONEMENT OF VACCINE MANDATE
At least one union said it is pleased with the deicion taken by the government.
The Fédération de la Santé du Québec (FSQ-CSQ), which represents 5,000 nurses, respiratory therapists, and nursing assistants, said it had recommended pushing back the deadline during a public meeting last week. The president of the FSQ, Claire Montour, said the union is pro-vaccine and has advised all of its members to get their shots, but that the Oct. 15 deadline was not realistic.
"As he acknowledged, the minister simply had no choice, given the fragile state of the network, to make this responsible decision," said Montour said in a statement.
"Christian Dubé seems to have listened to the message sent by the health-care unions last week. We now encourage all our members to take advantage of this additional time to complete their vaccination."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.