Kenney to drop vaccine mandate for healthcare workers: document – GLOBAL

March 1, 2022

Health Minister Jason Copping is expected to order Alberta Health Services to lift its COVID-19 vaccination mandate for staff, a move that experts say may unnecessarily endanger vulnerable patients.

“Effective March 15, 2022, Alberta Health Services shall rescind its current Immunization Or Testing For COVID-19 Policy,” states a recent draft directive from Copping to Alberta Health Services that was obtained by Global News.

Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health, Dr. Jim Talbot, questioned the rationale behind the proposed directive.

“There are many of us — speaking as a physician — who believe that if you don’t get immunized, and there is a potential that you can infect the patients in your care, that not only is that unethical, but it is immoral,” Talbot said Monday. “And so to have the (health) minister override Alberta Health Services’ own decision — I’m in disbelief.”

The draft directive says AHS workers hired after Nov. 30, 2021, must be fully immunized against COVID-19, and that AHS “may introduce temporary testing of workers for COVID-19 as required” to reduce transmission.

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/8651629/kenney-alberta-vaccine-mandate-healthcare-workers/