Pickering implementing mandatory vaccination policy for all staff
Published August 26, 2021 at 10:20 am
All City of Pickering employees must be double vaccinated by November 1 if they want to keep their jobs.
Pickering made the mandatory vaccination policy announcement Wednesday to “better safeguard the health and safety of staff, residents, and the broader community” and Mayor Dave Ryan is calling on other municipalities in Durham to do the same.
Ryan said the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has meant the City and its employees must hold themselves to a “higher health and safety standard” to protect residents, visitors, stakeholders and an “overburdened” healthcare system.
“We encourage our municipal neighbours, partners, and businesses to follow suit so that we can mitigate the further spread of COVID-19 and the Delta variant.”
Ryan said he and all members of Council have each received two vaccine doses and fully support the mandatory vaccination procedure for staff.
All employees will be required to submit a proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Staff who cannot submit documentation will be required to attend mandatory vaccine education training and subsequently provide proof of first dose. Exemptions will only be made for legitimate Ontario Human Rights Code requests.
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The mandatory vaccination procedure follows on stringent protocols and actions that Pickering had already put in place at the onset of the pandemic, such as in house contact tracing; installation of Plexiglas barriers; demarcation systems for physical distancing; hand sanitization stations; mask protocols; limiting in-office staffing levels and capacity limits; and daily self-screening using a customized app.
Chief Administrative Officer Marisa Carpino called her staff “our most valuable asset.”
“Our overarching mandate is to protect their health, safety, and well-being. It is our valued staff that manage, operate, and provide the facilities, services, events, and programs that touch the everyday lives of our residents. That’s why it’s critical that we implement strong measures such as the mandatory vaccination procedure,” she said.
“We have never faltered in our provision of outstanding municipal services, and we will do what it is necessary to prevent that from ever happening.”
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