Ontario makes vaccines a requirement for long-term care workers

The rule will apply to in-home workers as well, as well as any student, staff or volunteer, and the only exemptions available will be for medical reasons.

According to Global News, this replaces a previous rule already in effect, where people were able to work without being vaccinated, provided they underwent regular COVID testing. In effect, the new rule will eliminate the testing option.

Rod Phillips, Ontario's Minister of Long-Term Care, commented:

"We know that long-term care residents have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. As new variants continue to spread, we are seeing a growing numbers of outbreaks in long-term care homes where the risk to those most vulnerable remains high."

Phillips went on to state that, within Ontario's public long-term care facilities, 367 out of all 626 of them haven't met the target of 90 percent of people working there being vaccinated, and 99 of them have less than 80 percent fully inoculated at this time.

A third dose of the vaccine has been approved for residents of long-term care facilities, and, as of the time of this writing, approximately 64 percent of them have had one.

Ontario's long-term care centres have been, in general, the focal point for a lot of strong criticism during the course of the pandemic.