COVID-19 vaccination rate nears 100% among York Region hospital workers

49 workers at Newmarket, Markham-Stouffville hospitals face termination, Mackenzie Health extends deadline

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 8, 2021
Kim Zarzour

The Ford government may not support a mandatory vaccine policy for Ontario health care workers, but York Region hospitals do -- and it appears to be having an impact.

The province announced this week it will not mandate COVID-19 vaccines for hospital workers.

Southlake, Mackenzie Health and Oak Valley hospitals took a different approach, implementing mandates for all staff, and the vast majority of workers have stepped up to the plate.

"I got mine because I saw first-hand how devastating COVID could be and wanted to protect myself, my patients and my family," Dr. Steve Flindall, a York Region emergency physician, said. "I would have gotten the vaccine if it needed to be given as a spinal injection."

The York hospitals set an Oct. 31 deadline for employees, physicians, volunteers, students and contractors to get vaccinated.

As of Nov. 4, about 98 per cent of those at the Newmarket and Markham hospitals had complied with the policy, and 96 per cent at Mackenzie Health's two facilities.

At Oak Valley Health, which includes Markham Stouffville and Uxbridge hospitals, 36 staff members were non-compliant with the policy and are facing progressive discipline up to and including job termination, hospital spokesperson Rebecca MacKenzie said.

At Southlake in Newmarket, 73 individuals (two-thirds of them part-time or casual) were not compliant and placed on an unpaid leave of abscence, the hospital said in an emailed statement.

"Employees have been given a last opportunity to comply with the policy by voluntarily signing an attestation that they will receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by Dec. 5, 2021," the statement read. "If they choose not to sign the attestation and remain not fully vaccinated, their employment will be terminated effective Nov. 15, 2021."

Mackenzie Health, with hospitals in Richmond Hill and Vaughan, extended its deadline until Nov. 30 to provide additional support to the 4-per-cent of staff who have not yet met the vaccination requirement.
"We are continuing to see additional vaccinations each day," Mackenzie Health said in an emailed statement.

The province has been under pressure since the summer to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory across all hospitals.

"The part of this that really blows my mind is that the opportunity to make the right decision was handed to Ford on a silver platter," Flindall said. "All stakeholders relevant to the decision to make health-care worker vaccines mandatory were on board."

The Ontario Science Table, Ontario Hospital Association, Ontario Medical Association and Registered Nurses Association all backed the idea.

The provincial government, citing concerns about staffing shortages, said it was leaving human resourcing decisions up to individual hospitals.

Mandating vaccines could lead to "potential departure of tens of thousands of health-care workers" and jeopardize care, Premier Doug Ford said Dec. 3.

Given the high vaccination rate, disruptions to patient care are not anticipated, Southlake spokesperson Kathryn Perrier said in an email.

Since early 2021, Perrier said, the Newmarket hospital has been providing employees with vaccine education and support via town halls, Q and A sessions with physician experts, one-on-one conversations, on-site vaccination and pop-up walk-in clinics.

"Vaccination dramatically reduces the likelihood of severe disease and hospitalization and is key to avoiding future outbreaks and lockdowns," she said. "The vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective. We encourage everyone in the community to get vaccinated if they haven’t already."