The Region of Queens will require anyone entering a municipally operated building to be double vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Council voted to unanimously approve the measures at a special session Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Mayor Darlene Norman says the aim is to provide a safe environment for staff and the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil all agreed. They all recognized that COVID is an airborne disease, strains are multiplying, and we need to take as many precautionary acts as we can,\u201d said Norman.<\/p>\n
Unvaccinated people may still enter the administration building to pay bills, fees or pick up permits or documents.<\/p>\n
Proof of a first dose must be presented to the Region\u2019s Safety Officer or staff supervisor by Dec. 31 and full vaccination needs to be shown by Feb. 15, 2022.<\/p>\n
Any employee failing to meet the deadline will be placed on unpaid leave for 30 days.<\/p>\n
If that employee still isn\u2019t vaccinated at the end of those 30 days, they will be fired.<\/p>\n
The policy applies to employees required to interact with members of the public, other staff, contractors, or access common building spaces in the performance of their daily duties.<\/p>\n
Norman says the Region is taking this step to fill what she sees as a lack of direction from the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne would have hoped that the provincial government would have made a policy that went straight across the board rather than leaving this up to individual municipalities,\u201d said Norman. \u201cHowever, they did not, so we did.\"<\/p>\n
The Region of Queens new mandatory vaccine policy is effective immediately.<\/p>\n