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Town won’t rule out mandatory vax policy down the road: Official

Unvaxxed employees with medical exemptions will have costs of rapid antigen tests covered, while unvaxxed employees without exemptions will be required to pay out-of-pocket
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A sample vaccination receipt provided by the province.

While the Town of Collingwood is currently looking to implement a mandatory vaccination disclosure policy, they haven’t yet ruled out the possibility of making vaccines mandatory down the road.

During Monday’s corporate and community services standing committee meeting, councillors voted to recommend receiving a new Mandatory Vaccination Disclosure Policy, which would extend to council and town staff.

“This is really our starting position,” said Mayor Brian Saunderson during the meeting. “Based on what we learn from the mandatory reporting, then we may have cause or not have cause to come back and revisit whether we would go toward the next step of a mandatory vaccination policy.”

Under the new reporting policy, staff and council would be asked to provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 to the human resources department.

If proof is not provided, the employee can provide a medical exemption with supporting documents, provide proof of their first dose, or declare, in writing, their intent not to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

In those three cases, employees would have to submit regular antigen testing and demonstrate negative results. If the employee has a medical exemption, the cost of the rapid antigen tests will be covered by the town. If the employee doesn’t have a medical exemption, the employee will be required to pay for the tests out-of-pocket.

If an employee does not intend to get vaccinated, they also must complete a vaccine education program approved by the town.

Amanda Pegg, executive director of customer and corporate services, said the policy may be extended to town volunteers, such as committee members, at some point in the future.

“We just wanted to work through some of the logistics before we rolled out the policy on that scale. But it’s certainly at top of mind,” said Pegg.

Coun. Steve Berman asked whether there was anything prohibiting making vaccines themselves mandatory for staff and council.

“There are municipalities that have implemented those policies. There is nothing today that suggests we could not implement a mandatory vaccination policy,” said Pegg. “We just thought this initial first step of gauging the magnitude of what we’re working with (would be prudent). Maybe 99.9 per cent of our staff are already vaccinated and that would be great.

“Before we move to that measure we wanted to understand the landscape we’re operating within,” she said.

Coun. Bob Madigan asked whether the new policy would affect summer students hired by the town who are under the age of 18.

“I just don’t want to be affected by this in a tourism-based town where we depend on our summer students in parks, rec and culture,” he said.

Pegg said the policy would apply to students who are eligible to receive the vaccine, and students aged 12 to 17 do not require parental consent to receive the vaccine as per direction from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. She noted the Town of Collingwood hasn’t yet seen challenges relating to recruiting summer students.

“If a student had a medical exemption we would work with them on a case-by-case basis,” said Pegg.

Berman asked about the current cost of the rapid antigen tests.

“Currently there is a program for free rapid antigen testing but we’re not certain how long that program may last,” said Pegg. “We’ve heard it’s in the ballpark of $50 to $60. We would look at procuring those in the most cost-effective manner.”

On Sept. 1, Dr. Charles Gardner, Simcoe Muskoka District Medical Officer of Health, recommended that workplaces have vaccination policies.

If council approves the policy, human resources would notify staff of next steps and the policy would be implemented on Oct. 26. 

The committee voted unanimously in favour of recommending the policy be received and adopted, but the decision still has to be confirmed at the next meeting of council. Coun.Tina Comi was absent from the meeting.