At least 171 staff members at a Toronto hospital network have been placed on an unpaid leave of absence after failing to comply with a mandatory vaccination policy.
Unity Health, whose network includes St. Michael’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health Centre and Providence Healthcare, confirmed the suspensions on Friday afternoon.
The affected employees represent about two per cent of Unity Health’s roughly 8,500-person workforce.
“This has been a challenging time and having our colleagues go on leave is extremely difficult for everyone at Unity Health Toronto. They are all valued team members whose contributions will be missed, and we hope to see these them return after getting their COVID-19 vaccine,” the hospital network said in a statement. “We have contingencies in place to ensure we maintain our high standards of care, and we remain committed to doing everything we can to protect the people we care for.”
Unity Health began placing unvaccinated employees on unpaid leaves in October but had given those who had received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine until Nov. 4 to become fully vaccinated.
News of the suspensions comes just days after the Ford government announced that it would not make vaccination mandatory for all health-care workers, going against advice from the Ontario Hospital Association and the Ontario Science Advisory table.
The Ford government has defended that decision as prudent given concerns over staffing shortages.
But it has also said that individual hospitals and hospital networks can implement more stringent policies.
