Quebec premier issues vaccine mandate for health-care workers

MONTREAL — Quebec Premier Francois Legault says his government will issue a vaccine mandate for health-care workers who are in regular contact with patients.

Legault says 90 per cent of health-care workers in the province are already vaccinated but the remaining 10 per cent pose a risk to patients.

“The recommendation of public health is clear, there’s a risk for vulnerable patients,” he said. “Of course, it’s hard for the workers, but we have to protect patients.”

The mandate will apply to any health-care worker who enters into contact with patients for more than 15 minutes at a time, including nurses and doctors. Legault did not say when the new health order will enter into force.

“When we talk about health-care workers, we have to remember we’re not just talking about people in the hospitals,” said Dr. Donald Vinh, infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist. “It’s not the nurses and physicians in hospitals, because for the most part we’ve seen COVID up front, we know how serious it. For the most part we are mostly all vaccinated. It’s mostly the ally health-care workers.”

Legault says his government will hold a debate in the legislature next week regarding the vaccine mandate for health workers but also on the possibility of requiring vaccination for other public sector employees.

“We didn’t expect to do that a month ago,” said the Quebec premier. “Because of the variant, we’re not different than anywhere else in the world. We have to take action against the variant.”

The premier is also announcing that mask-wearing will be mandatory in common areas and inside classrooms in junior colleges and universities.

He says the Health Department is still considering whether to impose a mask-wearing order inside classrooms for primary and secondary schools.

Quebec reported 323 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and no additional deaths linked to the novel coronavirus. The Health Department says the number of hospitalizations linked to the virus rose by six, to 88, and 27 people are in intensive care, unchanged from Monday.

Legault and Health Minister Christian Dube had said several times in recent weeks that the province was considering requiring mandatory vaccination for health-care workers.

Workers at public health-care facilities, and private facilities that contract with the government, have been required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or be tested for the disease multiple times a week since April.

Officials say 42,634 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered within the past 24 hours. According to Quebec’s public health institute, 85.6 per cent of residents 12 and over have received at least one dose of vaccine and 75.6 per cent are considered adequately vaccinated.