Kenney to drop vaccine mandate for healthcare workers: document

A draft directive says Alberta Health Services will lift its COVID-19 vaccination mandate for staff.

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.

Alberta Health Services can choose the “specific terms and conditions” of how to implement the directive, it states, but the health authority must report on its compliance if Copping requests it.

Minister Copping and Alberta Health Services have not yet responded to requests for comment.

‘That just doesn’t make sense to me’

In August, AHS announced it would require all employees and contracted providers, including workers at AHS subsidiaries such as Capital Care and Alberta Precision Laboratories, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The original deadline for vaccination was Oct. 31 but the health authority ultimately extended that deadline to Dec. 13.