No jab, no pay: Quebec gives health workers a deadline to get fully vaccinated

Dubé made the announcement in Montreal during a provincial update on the pandemic situation in the province.

For weeks such events were led by Dubé, accompanied by the director of public health, Dr Horacio Arruda. But as the severity of Wave Four increased, Legault returned to lead the press conference for the first time in three weeks.

Legault noted that the number of hospitalizations in the province rose from 55 to 171 a month ago.

During the information session, Dubé also announced that the Quebec vaccination passport requirement will apply to people visiting hospitals.

The passport went into effect a week ago, on September 1. It is required for most non-essential services, including dining rooms and restaurant and bar terraces.

COVID-19 a new normal, according to the Prime Minister

Legault echoed a recent Facebook post by Dubé in which the Minister of Health shared his thoughts on the future of the pandemic, saying that Quebecers should “learn to live with the virus” because of the variants that appear quickly.

“For a while we’re going to have to accept a certain level of risk. We don’t want another lockdown, so we’re going to have to accept that there will be hospitalizations for COVID-19 for a while.” Legault said Tuesday.

“We are going to have to reorganize the health system.

He said while hospitalizations may not be as high as at the start of the pandemic, they are already straining the system due to understaffing.

WATCH | Public Health Minister Christian Dubé announces deadline for unvaccinated healthcare workers:

Quebec takes a hard line against unvaccinated healthcare workers

The government of Quebec will suspend without pay any health or social services employee who will not be vaccinated by October 15, said the Minister of Health of the province, Christian Dubé. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press) 1:16

“We do not have enough nurses, especially in intensive care,” said the Prime Minister. “[The system] is overflowing and it’s not because we don’t have enough beds, it’s because we don’t have enough nurses. ”

Legault said the government was trying to find ways to convince people who left the profession to return, potentially introducing incentives, including higher wages and improved working conditions.

He called on federal leaders to make increasing health transfers a campaign priority, explaining that health systems were already strained before the pandemic due to an aging population and that they would have need even more money to deal with COVID-19-related hospitalizations for the foreseeable future.

13% of eligible Quebecers still do not have a vaccine

Legault appealed to the 87% of Quebecers who have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to try to convince an unvaccinated person to make an appointment.

“Try to find a way to talk about that 13 percent,” Legault said. “It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s still hundreds of thousands of people and the reality is that experts say this variant is so contagious that they are concerned that all 13% end up with the hospital. “

He said unvaccinated people are 30 times more likely to end up in hospital with the virus than those who are vaccinated.

Dubé noted that 90 percent of new cases are in Montreal and that the majority of people in intensive care with COVID-19 are also in the metropolis. He suggested that more specific measures, including expanding the range of activities requiring a vaccination passport, could be implemented for Montreal.