Photo: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

vaccination mandate lifted

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccine order for all AHS workers to be rescinded Thursday

Mar 8, 2022 | 3:58 PM

Alberta is rescinding its mandatory vaccination order for AHS employees and contractors starting at 4 p.m. on March 10.

The order from the province comes as hospitalizations as a result of COVID-19 continue to drop.

Those who aren’t vaccinated will also not be required to be tested for COVID-19 prior to their shift.

Health Minister Jason Copping says the vast majority of Alberta Health Services staff are fully vaccinated — 97.7 per cent of AHS full and part-time employees and 99.8 per cent of physicians.

Because of the high vaccination rates, Copping says they are ok with taking this next step and eliminating the AHS COVID-19 vaccination policy.

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“AHS’ immunization policy was implemented to protect patients, workers and the public earlier in the pandemic,” he said.

“However, we are now in a different stage of our response and the overwhelming majority of our health-care workforce understands the importance of getting vaccinated. We need to make sure that every healthcare worker who is available to work, can, which is why we are lifting this mandate.”

A return to the job for those employers who haven’t been able to work because of the vaccination policy will be discussed between the workers and workplace leaders.

AHS adds in a statement it will continue to assess staffing and work with those who choose not to get immunized to address their concerns, answer their questions and educate them about the importance of immunization and vaccine safety and effectiveness.