Party leaders reject mandatory COVID vaccines for teachers, health-care workers

Two associations for physicians and nurses made a call on Wednesday to make COVID vaccines mandatory for health-care workers

HALIFAXtoday \  Chris Stoodley

No matter which party is elected in the provincial election, COVID-19 vaccines won’t be mandatory for some public sector workers.

Teachers, health-care workers and long-term care employees won’t have to be vaccinated against the virus.

Earlier this week, the leaders of the Progressive Conservatives, the Liberals and the NDP said they would not mandate vaccinations for those workers.

It comes after the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) called for the mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 for health-care workers on Aug. 3.

“We’re not advocating for mandatory vaccine of the public,” Tim Guest, CNA’s president, said. “What we’re looking at is individuals who provide care to individuals that may be susceptible and vulnerable have an ethical and professional responsibility to ensure that they provide safe care. And we believe part of that responsibility is being vaccinated to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.

“As two professional organizations that represent nurses and doctors, we believe that we as health workers have a responsibility to do everything we possibly can to protect those that we help.”

Since vaccination rates appear to be slowing down in Canada despite more coronavirus variants emerging, it’s something that’s been top-of-mind for some health-care professionals.

Guest told NEWS 95.7’s The Rick Howe Show that vaccines help protect high-risk patients who have underlying health conditions, health-care workers and the health-care system itself.

Moreover, he said the vast majority of the health care professionals have reacted positively to the call, and that many have been thankful the organizations have expressed their position.

NDP leader Gary Burrill said earlier this week that there are “lots of issues” raised by compulsory vaccinations and that he believes persuasion is a better tactic.

Tory leader Tim Houston said he would defer to public health on the issue.

Guest said that if a mandatory vaccination policy was implemented, there would certainly be more factors to consider.

“We believe that any policy like this does need to take into account situations where individuals, because of underlying health issues, for example, there are individuals who can’t be vaccinated,” he said. “Any policy needs to take those things into account.”

On top of calling for mandatory vaccinations, the CMA and CNA also called on governments and employers to decrease barriers to accessing vaccines and improve vaccine acceptance.

As of Friday, more than 76.6 per cent of Nova Scotians have received one or more COVID-19 vaccine doses. The percentage of people who have gotten two jabs sits above 66.2 per cent.