Many Ontario long term care homes keeping vax mandates as province lifts policy

Vaccination against COVID-19 will still be required for employees at many Ontario long-term care homes even though the province has lifted its official mandate for the sector.

Workers in long-term care were the only ones required by the government to get vaccinated against the virus and today had previously been set as a deadline for staff to get third shots.

That policy has now ended today as part of a broader lifting of restrictions, although the province says homes can keep mandating the shots for existing staff and new hires if policies comply with the law.

Extendicare and Chartwell, two major long-term care chains in the province, both say they are retaining mandatory vaccination policies.

The City of Toronto says its mandatory two-shot vaccination policy for all workers and new hires, including at municipally run long-term care homes, will also remain in place.

Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Sinai Health in Toronto, says smaller, not-for-profit homes may struggle more with maintaining mandatory vaccine policies because they have fewer legal resources to defend them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2022.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc. 2022.