André Fortin talks vaccination of health care workers, staffing issues

André Fortin talks vaccination of health care workers, staffing issues

Pontiac MNA André Fortin spoke with CHIP 101.9 about Health Minister Christian Dubé’s last-minute delay to enforcing mandatory COVID vaccinations for all health care workers. While the deadline was initially set for October 15, the minister announced Wednesday that health care workers would have until November 15 to be fully vaccinated or face suspension without pay.

Fortin said that he was surprised by the change, since Dubé was in the Outaouais the day before the announcement and had been firm on the timing of the mandate. He said the move would harm the minister’s credibility going forward.

During his visit to the Outaouais on October 12, Dubé announced that his government was working on permanently boosting the pay for nursing staff in the region, in addition to the recently announced one-time bonuses, to become more competitive with Ontario. He declined to give further details, saying that he didn’t want to “scoop” his finance minister. Fortin said he was in favour of a competitive salaries, but noted that working conditions in Outaouais facilities needed to improve as well.

Earlier this week, regional health authority CISSSO compiled the number of employees who haven’t been fully vaccinated compared to the situation in late August, revealing that 519 employees hadn’t received a single vaccine dose as of October 11, compared to 1,065 on August 26. In addition, 239 had only received one dose (compared to 763 in August), for a total of 758 employees who hadn’t been fully vaccinated (compared to 1,828 in August). The CISSSO employs roughly 13,000 people throughout the Outaouais.

Fortin said that he was expecting there to be a plan for how to maintain services in local facilities if the mandate came into effect on Friday, but didn’t get that impression after his meeting with Dubé.

The full interview with Fortin is available here.