Ford says Ontario won’t mandate COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare workers

Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday his government will not make vaccination mandatory for hospital workers.

“This is a complex issue. But when the impact of the potential departure of tens of thousands of health care workers is weighed against the small number of outbreaks that are currently active in Ontario’s hospitals, I am not prepared to jeopardize the delivery of care to millions of Ontarians,” Ford said in a statement. ”Having looked at the evidence, our government has decided to maintain its flexible approach by leaving human resourcing decisions up to individual hospitals.”

Ford wrote to hospitals and other stakeholders last month asking for input on the issue.

The province’s currency policy allows unvaccinated health-care workers to attend work as long as they participate in a rapid testing program for COVID-19. Ford says the government will keep monitoring the situation but for now will leave the decision to mandate vaccines up to individual hospitals.