86 per cent of front-line city workers confirm vax status

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This article was published 29/10/2021 (1805 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A large majority of City of Winnipeg workers required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have now provided proof of that status — yet hundreds have yet to confirm if they’ve been immunized.

On Friday, the city revealed about 86 per cent of the 5,500 affected front-line employees have confirmed they took their shots, as a Nov. 15 deadline to do so draws near.

Mayor Brian Bowman stressed the city’s key goal remains to convince all its employees to get vaccinated.

“The evidence and facts are clear: get vaccinated to protect yourself, your family, your friends and our community,” said Bowman.

The mayor noted 84 per cent of the Winnipeggers who were in the intensive care unit due to COVID-19 on Thursday were not yet fully vaccinated, and stressed immunization is necessary to protect both staff and city services.

The city also revealed more detail of the policies set to effect staff who don’t follow that advice by Nov. 15.

In those cases, management could choose to redeploy staff or allow them to be tested for COVID-19 three times a week and keep working.

Staff who refuse the redeployment and/or testing options could be put on unpaid leave and may no longer be allowed in their workplace.

The city does employ many workers who can’t simply work from home, which limits some alternatives, noted chief administrative officer Michael Jack.

“Paramedics, firefighters, Transit operators, these are all jobs that simply can’t be done remotely. They involve face-to-face interactions with our residents every day,” Jack said Friday.

The CAO said the city does not yet know how many employees will need to be tested or what that testing would cost.

Jack said the city has not given out exemptions from the vaccine requirement yet either. While it would consider exemptions based on religion, he noted the city has yet to identify a religion that would exempt someone from participating in its vaccine program.

The CAO said the matter has been discussed with civic unions and he’s encouraged to hear many labour groups publicly support vaccination.

“At the moment, I would suggest they’ve been supportive,” he said.

The rest of the city’s 10,400 employees aren’t required to get the shots. The city said positions that fall under the requirement include staff who work with vulnerable residents, including children under 12, or are in direct contact with the public.

Affected employees who have not yet shown proof of full vaccination will be required to complete an online course about COVID-19 immunization by Nov. 15, provided they either didn’t submit an exemption request by Nov. 1, or submitted a request and then “were assessed as needing to participate in education.”

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga