With 1 in 5 employees unvaccinated, SHA launches proof-of-vaccination policy

The Saskatchewan Health Authority says 20 per cent of health-care workers in the province haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19.

That’s one of the reasons the SHA launched its proof-of-vaccination policy for employees Friday.

During a question-and-answer period with reporters, Dr. Kevin Wasko — the SHA’s physician executive with Integrated Rural Health — said there had been many scenarios recently where unvaccinated health-care workers have introduced COVID into a variety of settings.

“There have been cases where COVID has been brought into the workplace and has resulted in the client or patient becoming sick,” Wasko said. “That has occurred in long-term care in multiple instances.

“And there have been instances where a health-care worker has brought COVID into the workplace and it has resulted in another health-care worker getting sick. Those are the types of scenarios that we want to prevent.”

According to a news release from the SHA, one in five health-care workers in the province aren’t vaccinated.

“Unvaccinated team members put themselves, patients, and the health system at very high risk,” the release said. “Given the vulnerability of the people we serve, directly and indirectly, the SHA must take formal action to ensure everyone in the system is protected.”

The SHA’s policy took effect Friday, when the provincial government’s vaccination requirements also were applied.

All of the authority’s employees will have to submit a declaration form about their vaccination status, their intention to enrol in a monitored testing program at their own cost, or their intention to seek accommodation by Oct. 15.

Those who go ahead with getting shots will have to submit their proof of full COVID vaccination status in early November.

“We are implementing this policy now because we do not believe that we can provide a safe workplace any longer without our health-care teams being fully vaccinated against COVID-19,” said Wasko, who added a phased-in approach is being introduced because it’s a massive undertaking.

“There are multiple moving parts to this, and even being able to administer the monitored testing program is a massive undertaking as well. We want to get it right. We want to be fair to the health-care workers in the system who have worked very hard over the last 19 months. We want to allow time for people to prove that they have been vaccinated.”

The rise in cases in September — when nearly 13,000 new cases were reported — created strain on the province’s health-care system. As of Friday, 313 COVID patients were in Saskatchewan hospitals, with 68 of those in intensive care units.

According to the SHA, “there is significant evidence that unvaccinated individuals are contributing to exposures (causing transmission) including in health-care settings. Mandatory vaccination is a way to make the workplace as safe as possible in this situation.”

Change to testing

As has been reported previously, the SHA is changing its testing priorities.

Testing will be geared toward symptomatic people, while asymptomatic individuals will be asked to arrange — and pay for — testing through private companies.

The SHA will only do PCR tests for people meeting the following classifications:

• Persons with symptoms of COVID-19 in a community, in hospitals and in congregate living;
• Further priority orders include medical health officer requests for STAT testing (surveillance in congregate living and high-risk settings);
• Those with a positive antigen test;
• Close contacts to a positive COVID case;
• Persons identified in an outbreak situation, as ordered by a medical health officer with specific focus on health-care workers, students and staff within educational institutions
• Anyone requiring a transfer or admission to congregate settings such as long-term or personal care homes, social services, and acute care facilities; and,
• Surveillance testing of immunocompromised patients including chemotherapy and hemodialysis.