Good morning. It’s James Keller in Calgary.
As other provinces have implemented vaccine requirements for members of the public, employees, health care workers and public servants, Alberta’s government has been adamant: there will be no requirement for anyone to be vaccinated. Premier Jason Kenney has suggested that it could be illegal to demand anyone provide proof of vaccination.
There have already been examples of businesses in the province pressing ahead anyway, with a handful of restaurants, sports teams such as the Calgary Flames, and other businesses demanding vaccination of their workers and customers. And now, Alberta Health Services, which runs the province’s health care system and is Alberta’s largest employer, says it’s taking the “extraordinary step” of requiring all staff and health care workers to be vaccinated.
British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer said the province will follow suit with a policy of its own, with details coming soon.
In Alberta, Verna Yiu, the president and CEO of AHS, said it’s an “extraordinary” measure but necessary to protect patients and ensure a stable workforce, particularly as the province heads into a fourth wave and COVID-19 patients stream into hospitals.
“We are committed to providing a healthy and safe environment for our staff, patients and the public. A culture that supports safety and health is critical for our ability to provide excellent, timely health care to all Albertans,” she said during a virtual news conference on Tuesday.
“Health care workers have an ethical and professional responsibility to protect others. For many, that’s the driving force behind what they do.”
The policy takes effect on Oct. 31, to give unvaccinated health care workers time to be fully vaccinated. The rule will apply to all AHS employees, as well as contacted front-line health care workers such as doctors and midwives, and staff at Alberta Precision Laboratories.
Dr. Yiu said more details about the policy will be released later. She said workers who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons or another “protected ground under the Alberta Human Rights Act” will be accommodated, though she did not elaborate.
She said health care staff who refuse to be vaccinated and cannot provide a medical reason will be given information about vaccines. If they still refuse, they will be put on unpaid leave.
Ontario has said some health care workers will be required to be vaccinated and Manitoba has said people who work with “vulnerable populations” would be required to be immunized.
Mr. Kenney has repeatedly ruled out vaccine passports and said the government does not believe it is ethical – or legal – to impose vaccine mandates. The government recently posted a document to its website warning that anyone who does could be hit with a lawsuit.
Dr. Yiu said the decision to require health care workers to be vaccinated was made by AHS and was not political, though she said the agency informed Health Minister Tyler Shandro.
Dr. Yiu said AHS obtained a legal opinion and believes the policy is sound. She noted that AHS already requires new employees to provide proof of vaccination for conditions such as measles.
B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer, Bonnie Henry, said the province will require some health care workers to be vaccinated to protect patients while also ensuring staff are able to provide care, though she did not provide details. The province has already announced mandatory vaccinations for long-term care workers.
“We know that there are some settings where it is incredibly important to prevent transmission of this virus ,” Dr. Henry said on Tuesday.
Provinces across the country are seeing an increase in COVID-19 infections, though Alberta has more active cases – both in terms of raw numbers and on a per capita basis – than any other province or territory. Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and B.C. are also well above the overall rates for Canada.
Those numbers have also translated to an increase in hospital admissions. On a per capita basis, Alberta has more COVID-19 patients in intensive care than anywhere else in Canada and is second, behind Saskatchewan, for overall hospital admissions. The two provinces have a hospital admission rate six times higher than Ontario.
Alberta remains below the peak of the previous waves, though hospital admissions are increasing quickly. There were 431 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including 106 in ICUs, as of Monday. Both numbers have more than doubled in the past two weeks.
AHS has already cancelled surgeries to deal with the influx and some patients are being transferred between hospitals because of capacity constraints.
Dr. Yiu said she is concerned about how quickly hospitals are filling up with COVID-19 patients, noting that staffing shortages are making the problem worse. She said internal projections show hospital admissions are expected to continue increasing at the same rate as the previous couple of weeks.
“This has been a very long pandemic,” she said. “Physicians and staff have stepped up for 19 months and done incredible things, but they are understandably tired,” she said.
She said AHS is opening up new beds as quickly as possible, but staffing those beds is a challenge.
The Alberta government lifted nearly all COVID-19 public health restrictions over the summer and Mr. Kenney has ruled out bringing back widespread restrictions.
The Premier is on vacation and hasn’t commented publicly about the COVID-19 situation for weeks.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.