COVID-19: Quebec drops vaccination mandate for health-care workers

Quebec is dropping its enforced COVID-19 vaccination mandate among health-care workers, government officials announced Wednesday.

After pushing back its deadline multiple times, Health Minister Christian Dubé said the province will abandon the measure altogether, as the health-care network can’t afford to lose the thousands of non-vaccinated workers.

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Dubé said 14,000 health-care workers haven’t received a first dose, and of those, 5,000 are in direct contact with patients.

Health officials say 97 per cent of workers in the heath network are vaccinated.

The minister added that all new health-care employees will have to be fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated staff will be obliged to get tested for COVID three times a week, and those who don’t comply will be suspended without pay.

–more to come