Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, made an announcement this afternoon on the Ontario Government’s vaccination policy plans.
The Province is directing high-risk settings like hospitals and home & community care settings to have a vaccination policy in place by September 7th.
They say people need to provide proof of either full vaccination, a medical exemption, completion of a COVID-19 education session, or they must do regular rapid antigen testing.
Schools and childcare settings will be required to have a vaccination disclosure policy and there will be rapid antigen testing for staff who are unvaccinated.
The Ontario Government says vaccination policies will also be put in place at post-secondary institutions, retirement homes, women’s shelters, congregate group homes and day programs for adults with developmental disabilities, children’s treatment centres, children’s residential settings and services for children with special needs.
The Province says it will also offer third doses of the vaccine to those deemed to be at highest-risk, including transplant recipients, those with hematological blood cancers among other conditions as well as residents of high-risk congregate settings including long-term care homes higher-risk licensed retirement homes and First Nations elder care lodges.
The Province is also extending eligibility to children born in 2009, meaning those turning 12 before the end of the year. They will be able to get a Pfizer shot starting August 18th.
The Province says it is also ‘pausing’ its roadmap to reopen despite more than 81 per cent of eligible Ontarians having received a first dose and 75 per cent having received a second vaccine dose. They say this pause is ‘out of an abundance of caution.’
See the Province’s Full Announcement HERE