Case for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination compared to smoking restrictions by MLHU
“We highly, highly, ask you, encourage you, beg you to do it,” London Mayor Ed Holder pleaded with the one in five people in the region who remain unvaccinated during a media briefing on Monday.
Begging people to get vaccinated, however, may not be enough to end the pandemic’s grip on London and Middlesex County.
According to the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU), as of July 17 the local COVID-19 vaccination rate for first shots was at 79.4 among adults.
The rate for second doses was at 58.9 percent.
The slowing vaccination rate means the region risks falling short of the target to control the more transmissible Delta variant.
“If we want to get our vaccination rate up from 80 per cent to 90 per cent, we absolutely need mandatory vaccines,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie. “Not just for health care, but for other places where people would be putting others at risk, including schools, post-secondary and other facilities.”
Mackie adding that mandatory vaccination would, “require some appropriate exemptions for health or religious and philosophical reasons.”
He then compared mandatory vaccination to smoking regulations.
“The same way we have second-hand smoking legislation wherever you are indoors in proximity with others, you can’t smoke (because) you put other people at risk,” explained Mackie.
The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) reports a 70 per cent vaccination rate among its 15,000 employees.
Dr. Adam Dukelow, chief medical officer at LHSC, believes the actual rate to be higher because it’s based on voluntary self-reporting of an employee’s vaccination status.
Dukelow says mandating vaccinations for health-care workers would be up to the province.
“We can’t make those decisions in isolation, and (LHSC) would have to take into account our unions, privacy regulations, and such,” he told the media briefing.
Mackie referred to a decision in France that boosted the vaccination rate among adults when it similarly began to level off below target.
“France introduced vaccine passport requirements for entering into restaurants and saw two-million people sign up within two days,” he explained. “That is the kind of policy that will get us over 80 per cent to the 90 per cent threshold to where we can really put this pandemic to bed.”
Middlesex-London’s vaccination rate will be updated on Tuesday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Crypt near Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner could fetch US$400,000 at auction
A one-space mausoleum crypt in the vicinity of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will go on auction Saturday, when it is expected to reach between US$200,000 and $400,000.
This Toronto restaurant is no longer accepting tips. Here's how it's going
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff – tipping is no longer accepted.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Premiers not being truthful about carbon tax, Trudeau says while sparks fly in Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Conservative premiers across the country are 'not telling the truth' when it comes to the carbon tax. Trudeau's comments came as fresh sparks were flying in Ottawa at a recalled House of Commons committee.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.