15,000 Quebec healthcare workers face suspension without pay for being unvaccinated

As COVID case counts continue to climb, the province of Quebec is dealing with the ramifications of its healthcare policy aims: on the one hand, needing to retain and increase staff to deal with the pandemic strain on the system and its plan to mandate vaccines for healthcare workers.

"We will not accept people in our healthcare system who are not vaccinated, so if you want to minimize the amount of time during which you will not be paid, go get vaccinated soon," said Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube.

Since the government announced mandatory COVID vaccinations for employees of health and social service centres, roughly half have rolled up their sleeves, leaving 15,000 unvaccinated workers, 7,500 of whom deal directly with patients. The current deadline to get the first dose of a Health Canada-approved coronavirus vaccine is October 15.

The CAQ Government's position has prompted strong opposition from healthcare unions and opposition parties, who have called for a 'relaxing' of the vaccine mandate and an extension of the deadline, citing concerns about 'severe disruptions' to the healthcare sector and on vaccinated workers in the system.

"We must act in order not to lose more services," he said. "If we already have breakdowns in service when we lack 4,000 nurses, what will the effect be when we double that deficit?" said Parti Quebecois health critic Joël Arseneau.

However, Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade supported the government's decision. She said the Quebec government needs to send a clear message, "because we have people who are not vaccinated in the healthcare sector, there are beds people need, people waiting for surgeries."

Noting concerns of unvaccinated workers, Anglade says she "understand[s] that one way or the other there will be impacts" but stressed she thinks "the safest thing is to get everyone vaccinated."

In a bid to boost staffing, the Quebec government has also announced plans to give nurses a one-time bonus payment and to mandate "unfavourable hours" to nurses in the private sector to incentivize them to stay in the public healthcare system. The Health Minister also spoke of the 'reorganization' of healthcare services but did not specify what type of reorganizations would be necessary or for how long.

"Can we do some reorganization of services to be sure that people are only served by people who are vaccinated? The answer is yes," said Dube. "But we've seen what happens with a reorganization of services. I don't like it," he added.

"What I find deplorable is that these people know … they see what it costs patients to do this type of reorganization of services. So what I'm asking them today is: Do you want to be the cause of all of this because you're not vaccinated?"

When it announced its plan, the Quebec government initially said the vaccine mandate would only apply to workers who come into prolonged contact with patients.

After hearings in the National Assembly Committee and following recommendations from public health officials, the government broadened its mandate to include "anyone working in or visiting a health or social service centre, including employees such as secretaries, etc."

It remains to be seen how many healthcare workers will roll up their sleeves before October 15 and what effect that will have on Quebec's strained healthcare system.

This comes amid efforts to reverse Quebec's chronic nursing shortage. Premier Francois Legault announced his government would offer between $12,000 and $18,000 in bonuses to full-time nurses in the public system or who shift to full-time work in what he called "a small revolution."

Employees from private agencies will mainly be offered unfavourable time slots, such as evenings, nights and weekends, to entice nurses to join public healthcare.

Currently, the province faces a shortage of around 4,300 full-time nurses.