The firing of employees at the North Bay Regional Hospital for refusing to get vaccinated has started.
A source tells BayToday the first person was terminated Monday.
See: Hospital prepared to terminate employees who are against COVID-19 vaccines
"Yes, some employees have been terminated as a result of choosing not to comply with the options provided in our COVID-19 policy," confirms Kim McElroy, Director of Communications. "The Health Centre followed a progressive discipline process and there are now some people who are no longer working at the Health Centre.
"I can confirm that as of today (Thursday) this number is under 10. For reference, our current vaccination rate is 92 per cent."
McElroy says the hospital’s policy complies with Directive #6 issued by Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health and has been enforced.
It states that many health care workers (HCW) in higher-risk settings remain unvaccinated, "posing risks to patients and health care system capacity due to the potential (re) introduction of COVID-19 in those settings, placing both HCW and patients at risk due to COVID-19 infection."
The hospital must establish, implement and ensure compliance with a COVID-19 vaccination policy requiring its employees, staff, contractors, volunteers and students to provide proof of full vaccination or written proof of a medical reason, provided by a physician or registered nurse that sets out a documented medical reason for not being fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and the effective time-period.
Read that directive here.
McElroy says the options at the North Bay hospital include providing proof of full vaccination, written proof of medical contraindication, or participate in regular (every 7 days) rapid antigen testing.
Last week a hospital spokesperson said they are aware of approximately 40 employees who are currently non-compliant and could progress to dismissal as early as this week.
A source earlier told BayToday that the non-compliant employees hold various positions around the hospital and that more than 200 hospital staff had refused to get a vaccine prior to the mandate set forth by the province in late September.
