EDMONTON -- A top official at Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN) says requiring front-line staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 would “undermine confidence and trust,” after concerns that thousands of eligible health-care workers have yet to register for vaccinations.
Roughly 4,000 UHN staff had not registered for their shots as of Monday, prompting an internal email from the network’s president calling their decision “worrisome” amid a third wave of the disease.
But Dr. Susy Hota, medical director of infection control and prevention at UHN, says the network is not encouraging a mandatory vaccination policy, noting that vaccine hesitancy is natural, even among front-line workers.
“Health-care workers do feel a very strong sense of responsibility to protect the population… but it’s more complicated than that. We’re talking about a vaccine; we’re not talking about enforcing a new policy,” Dr. Susy Hota, medical director of infection control and prevention at Toronto’s University Health Network, told CTV’s Your Morning Thursday.
“We have to make sure to get people the time and the tools that they need to make the right decision and feel comfortable with it.”
In the letter sent to staff Monday, UHN CEO Kevin Smith makes reference to “rumours about the vaccines,” noting that health service vaccine ambassadors will be made available at each unit to answer questions.
Hota says the majority of questions she’s received from staff about the vaccine stem from concerns about underlying health conditions. But she notes increasing concern about delaying the second dose and whether that’s going to change the way the vaccine works.
“You have to respect that people do have religious and medical reasons for not being able to or wanting to take the vaccine,” Hota said, noting that the UHN approach is to “give people the information they need to make that decision.”
On Tuesday, a UHN spokesperson confirmed that, since the letter was sent, an additional 1,000 people registered for the vaccine. That means that about 85 per cent of staff at UHN will soon be vaccinated, Howard added.
On the question of whether hospitals and health-care organizations could make it mandatory to get a COVID-19 vaccine, Hota says it would be very difficult to enforce.
“The best way [to do this] is instilling in people the importance of getting the vaccine while still making it a voluntary thing,” she said.
“Because if you were to make it mandatory you’re really undermining confidence and trust, and that’s going to have an effect on future vaccines and uptake as well.”
