On April 30, 2021, the Long-Term Care Covid-19 Commission (the “Commission“) released its Final Report to the Minister of Long-Term Care. This report pulled back the curtain on the dreadful conditions that residents of certain long-term care homes in Ontario have endured during the coronavirus pandemic. It also made recommendations to the Ontario government with respect to improving quality of care for the long-term care resident population. You can read more about the Commission’s report in Ian Hull and Tori Joseph’s recent blog.
It seems that the Ontario government is heeding the Commission’s call to action. On May 31, 2021, Ontario announced that all long-term care homes in the province will be required to put into place certain COVID-19 vaccine policies for staff. The focus of these policies will be on educating long-term care staff about COVID-19 vaccines and promoting full immunization among staff.
The requirements related to the establishment, implementation and reporting on a COVID-19 immunization policy in long-term care homes are set out in the Minister’s Directive: Long-term care home COVID-19 immunization policy (the “Directive“). The objectives of the Directive are to establish a consistent approach to COVID-19 immunization policies in long-term care homes, optimize COVID-19 immunization rates in homes, and ensure that staff make informed decisions about COVID-19 vaccination. To meet these objectives, the Directive provides that every person working in a long-term care home in Ontario will be required to do one of the following:
- Provide proof of vaccination of each dose;
- Provide a documented medical reason for not being vaccinated; or
- Participate in an educational program about the benefits of vaccination and the risks of not being vaccinated.
The Directive is effective as of July 1, 2021, which means that long-term care homes have approximately one month to implement their COVID-19 staff immunization policies.
It is worth noting that Ontario is the first province in Canada to make it mandatory for long-term care homes to have COVID-19 immunization policies for staff and to set out the minimum requirements that need to be included in these policies. Hopefully this will be an effective step towards better protecting the health and well-being of long-term care home residents.
Thanks for reading!