Alberta Health Services will be lifting its mandatory vaccine policy for employees effective 4 p.m. Thursday.
The provincial government says the vast majority of Alberta Health Services staff, approximately 97.7 per cent of full and part-time employees, and 99.8 per cent of physicians are fully vaccinated already.
Minister of Health Jason Copping says the immunization policy was implemented to protect patients, workers and the public earlier in the pandemic.
“However, we are now in a different stage of our response and the overwhelming majority of our health-care workforce understands the importance of getting vaccinated,” he says. “We need to make sure that every healthcare worker who is available to work, can, which is why we are lifting this mandate.”
The removal of the policy will allow unvaccinated employees currently on a leave of absence will be able to return to work after March 10th at 4 p.m.
AHS says it will continue to assess staffing and work with those who choose not to get immunized to address their concerns, answer their questions and educate them about the importance of immunization and vaccine safety and effectiveness.
