No ‘Major Impacts’ From Employee Vaccine Mandate, Say N.S. Premier

HALIFAX — On November 30, Nova Scotia’s mandatory vaccine measures for provincial employees come into effect.

That mandate requires all provincial employees to have at least one vaccine dose, or a valid exemption, by November 30 and have plans to get fully vaccinated shortly after.

Any employee who doesn’t will face “employment consequences” that could include unpaid leave.

With the November 30 deadline just days away, an overwhelming majority of provincial employees are fully vaccinated.

Premier Tim Houston said on Wednesday that the province has plans to deal with staff shortages or service disruptions if they arise but that the province doesn’t expect major issues.

On November 24, the province released preliminary data showing vaccination rates for employees in high-risk sectors like health, education, and long-term care.

The data show 95 percent of Nova Scotia Health Authority employees who have reported their status are fully vaccinated. Four percent are partially vaccinated.

At the IWK Health Centre, 99 percent of reporting employees are fully vaccinated, and one percent are partially vaccinated.

The numbers are similar for employees in long-term care, home care, education, and Emergency Health Services.

A detailed list of vaccination rates in these and other critical sectors can be found here.

Meanwhile, the vaccination rate among all government employees who have reported their status show 97 percent are fully vaccinated and two percent partially vaccinated. So far, 93 percent of government employees have reported their status.

In a Covid-19 update on November 24, Houston said he finds those vaccination rates “encouraging.”

Of the small percentage of provincial staff who still haven’t reported their vaccination status, Houston said the province is “working hard” to determine their intentions.

He said he’s “concerned” about those people and hopes it doesn’t mean they won’t get vaccinated. But if it does, he said, “we will deal with it.”

“At the end of the day we absolutely believe, we’re completely convinced, that people who work in [critical] sectors must be vaccinated to protect the people they care for. This is more important than having to deal with the impacts on staffing and services if people choose to leave,” he said.

Houston said the province is planning for how to handle staff shortages or service disruptions if they arise. But none of the employers covered by the vaccine mandate expect “any major impacts to service delivery” outside of a few “isolated issues.”

The province says it will release data on vaccination rates for its workforce in early December.

Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].