At least 80 hospital workers in northeastern Ontario terminated over COVID vaccines

At least 80 hospital workers in northeastern Ontario have lost their jobs for not following the new rules around COVID vaccines.

Health Sciences North in Sudbury terminated some 53 employees last week for not complying with the vaccination policy.

That included 14 full-time staff, 32 part-time employees and seven casual workers. The hospital says 17 of those terminated were nurses.

Resistance to getting the COVID shot or disclosing vaccination status, has also seen11 workers fired at the North Bay hospital, 11 at the Timmins and District Hospitaland 13 at Sault Area Hospital: eight nurses and five support staff.

West Nipissing General Hospital says it is earlier on in the process and currently has eightemployees who were sent home without pay.Two are working on getting fully vaccinated and are expected to return to work.

All the local hospitals note that this represents a small fraction of their workforce and that it will have no impact on the care patients receive.