Mandatory vaccination | There is no data on the residences of private seniors

While (Quebec) health workers are preparing for mandatory vaccinations, there is no data on vaccination coverage of private Seniors Residence (RPA) or Intermediate Resource (RI) employees in Quebec. These circles fear that the new measure will cause service disruptions.

Funny Levesque
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Hugo Pylon-Laros
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“We are in favor [à cette mesure], But I’m worried, ”said Wise Desjardines President and CEO of Regiment Quebecois des Residences Seniors (RQRA). In the process, he lamented the lack of a global portrait for vaccinating RPA workers. Without this information, it would be difficult to predict the impact of mandatory vaccination on accommodation resources.

At the beginning of Mr. Deszardins’ Ministry of Health and Social Services campaign, health workers could not understand why this information was not collected when they were first vaccinated. RQRA launched a “home survey” on Thursday to get a clear idea.

I have 800 members … This does not mean that everyone will answer us, in addition, our organization does not represent all residences.

Yves Deszardins, President and CEO of Regroup Quabocois des Residences

According to the information Mr. Deszardins can gather at this stage, RPA employees are “mostly vaccinated”.

In a statement, Health Minister Christian Dubey wrote: “To ensure efficient and rigorous management of the network, the Minister always wants to have a complete picture of the data. ”

Still, according to the company, “resonates on the ground […] Vaccine coverage of health workers suggests that the presence of vulnerable populations in some environments, especially RPAs and IRs, is of concern.

“That is why we have put on the table a proposal to make vaccinations mandatory for health workers who have direct contact with patients regardless of the environment,” Mr Dubey’s office wrote.

According to Labor Law Professor Alain Barre, an employer “cannot in principle request an employee’s vaccination status unless the nature of the duties justify it”.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services recalled that the RPA was “private employers” and that the Ministry “had no data on their employees, and no legitimacy to apprehend them”.

Retention difficulties

RQRA fears that compulsory vaccination in an already weakened sector will increase “difficulties in recruiting and retaining the workforce”. “My concern is the state of the earth and what it should create [un décalage]. The government needs to know this, “said David Cook, chief of The Christian Science Monitor’s Washington bureau.

He also feared that the consequences for those who were not vaccinated were too “compelling” but that RPAs were “at risk”. Elected members of the Legault government will propose to suspend unpaid health workers who refuse to vaccinate during a parliamentary commission on the issue next week.

RQRA requested that Parliament be invited to participate in the debate. He already confirms that “private residences for seniors comply with government and public health directives.”

Quebec’s Intermediate Resource Resources Association expressed similar fears earlier this week, concerned about not seeing resources in service.

Health Minister Christian Dubey on Tuesday confirmed that mandatory vaccinations will apply to paramedics staff, including private employment agencies, RIs and RPAs. Currently, immunization coverage for public sector health workers is 90% (at least one dose).

Two day commission

Quebec on Thursday agreed with opposition parties that a day on a parliamentary committee would not be enough to hear groups on the mandatory vaccination of health workers. The commission should also consider a mandatory vaccination between teachers and “state employees who are in contact with citizens,” Franకోois Legalt said Tuesday.

The Leader of the House, Minister Simon Jolin-Barrett, said in an interview on Thursday that he had notified other parties of a proposed schedule for more than a day. Tap.

But in the current state of negotiations, we have learned that the Commission will be held for two days next Thursday and Friday.

A few weeks before the start of the parliamentary term, Mr. Jolin-Barrett could not indicate whether the 125 elected members of the National Assembly (all double-vaccinated) would meet for the first time since the outbreak began. Time at the Blue Salon.

An agreement between the parties currently limits the presence of aides at the parliament building, but Quebec is still in strict health measures to contain the COVID-19 epidemic. “We’ll be waiting to see what Public Health recommends,” Simon Jolin-Barrett said.

Parliament Hill has confirmed that its employees must be vaccinated[était] Not currently considered “, but the condition” continues to develop. ”