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Over 90% of Alberta health care workers now vaccinated against COVID-19

EDMONTON, AB – It looks very few Alberta Health Services (AHS) employees will be out of a job by the end of this month due to a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy.

It was announced in late August that any health care workers not fully-vaccinated by October 31st and who don’t get an accommodation approved to be exempt, would be put on administrative leave without pay.

AHS President, Dr. Verna Yiu says about 92% of part-time and full-time employees as well as doctors have submitted vaccination proof.

“This tells us there is very broad support for the mandatory vaccine policy,” says Dr. Yiu. “We are extremely grateful to all those (AHS employees) who have provided proof of vaccination. We stand by the policy and it will be fully implemented.”

Yiu contends this vaccine policy is essential to ensuring the safety of health care workers, patients, and vulnerable Albertans.

A small number of AHS staff, less than one percent, are seeking a vaccine accommodation for either medical or religious reasons. Those will have be reviewed before getting the green light.

Yiu also says 61 AHS employees across the province have resigned specifically because of the vaccination policy. Of those, 31 are in clinical roles, 11 of whom are registered nurses.

Alberta Health Services is encouraging any health care workers who are still not immunized against COVID-19 to consider doing so or address any concerns they have with their health care provider.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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