By Gaauree Chawla
Research associate
Frontier Centre for Public Policy
As of Sept. 7, the Ontario government requires all workers in high-risk settings to either take the COVID-19 vaccine, provide a medical reason for refusing vaccination or undergo regular testing and education. This includes workers in health-care, educational and child-care settings.
Ontario won’t make vaccines mandatory for its workers. “We encourage them to do it. I’ve been up here for months begging, pleading with everyone to get it but no one should be forced to do anything,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
The policy is effective because it ensures the safety of Ontario’s population against the Delta variant and doesn’t strip workers in high-risk settings from their constitutional right to refuse the vaccine.
Countries that have passed or plan to pass vaccine mandates for some or all of their population have created a deep divide. In France and Latvia, people flooded the streets protesting for their freedom. Latvia’s protest on mandatory vaccines was the country’s largest protest since 2009.
In the United States, the mandate has been taken to court. Nurse Jennifer Bridges filed a lawsuit against Houston Methodist Hospital for forcing vaccines upon its workers. Bridges claimed that mandatory vaccination resembled forced experiments conducted on prisoners during the Holocaust. Her suit was dismissed. Bridges and other health-care workers across America have either resigned or were fired for refusing to take the vaccine.
Vaccine mandates are bound to create similar protests among the Canadian public. One health-care worker argues that “If you’re forced to do something, it’s the reflex to say, ‘No, I’m not going to get it done.”
If vaccine mandates are implemented in Ontario, they will only reduce public trust in government and won’t motivate the resistant to take the vaccine. Even those in favour of vaccines believe that “I feel that it shouldn’t be forced upon someone.”
Furthermore, if alternatives to vaccines such as personal protective equipment and teleworking are available and if these alternatives are effective, then mandating vaccines or imposing severe consequences for refusing vaccination isn’t ethical. Implementing a vaccine mandate as a condition of employment places an economic burden on the vaccine-hesitant and their employers. This is especially challenging in a field like health care, which is already working at full capacity.
Instead of mandating vaccines, provincial governments should focus their efforts on engaging in open dialogue to understand and address the concerns of the unvaccinated. Vaccine skeptics believe the safety of vaccines is unclear and the long-term side effects of vaccines are unknown. In their opinion, COVID-19 vaccines are potentially more harmful than COVID-19.
On the other hand, the president of the Ontario Medical Association, Dr. Adam Kassam, argues that “Vaccines are the best way to control the spread of COVID-19, and remain an essential component in protecting our patients, families and friends.”
This controversy is more than a battle between safety and choice. The underlying reasons for promoting or refusing vaccines are the same: concerns about human safety. Mandatory vaccination will not resolve this problem.
Studies have shown that most of those who refuse are willing to take the vaccine in the future if their reasons for hesitancy are resolved. Instead of mandating vaccines, the Ontario government should focus their efforts on developing quality educational materials and engaging in open dialogue to understand and address the concerns of the unvaccinated.
This type of policy will address the needs of both parties. It will encourage vaccination to ensure the safety of people against the Delta variant and allow the especially hesitant the time and data required to make informed decisions.
Gaauree Chawla is a research associate with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Gaauree is a Troy Media Thought Leader. For interview requests, click here.
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