Quebec Judge Rules Province’s Abandoned Health-Care Vaccine Mandate Is Legal

By The Staff The Canadian Press

Posted November 15, 2021 12:16 pm

2:10Do COVID-19 vaccine mandates really put health care systems at risk?

Backlash is mounting in Quebec and Ontario, where COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health-care workers have been ditched. The provinces believe the rules could result in staff shortages. But would health-care systems really be at risk? Eric Sorensen has a reality check – Nov 4, 2021 A Quebec Superior Court judge has ruled in favour of the province’s vaccine mandate for health-care workers, nearly two weeks after the government suspended the health order.

Justice Michel Yergeau’s decision released today denies the request for an injunction brought by unvaccinated health network employees.

The Quebec government announced on Nov. 3 it was abandoning its Nov. 15 deadline for health-care staff to be vaccinated, because it worried the order would significantly reduce services in the overburdened system.

Instead, it required unvaccinated staff to be tested three times a week and for new hires to be fully vaccinated.

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The judge says the applicants weren’t able to demonstrate that the order wasn’t in the interest of the public and he says it should enter into force even if there isn’t consensus on it.

The case on its merits — whether a mandatory vaccination order is constitutional — won’t be heard until sometime in 2022.

(The Canadian Press)

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