OTTAWA – The Canadian government yesterday announced that it will require all federal workers to get vaccinated against Covid-19, amid a surge in cases due to the Delta variant.
“We know that vaccines are the best way to end this pandemic,” said Dominic LeBlanc, the minister in charge of the country’s federal bureaucracy.
“We expect federal public servants to want to comply with this mandatory requirement.”
A deadline for the inoculation of some 300,000 public servants will be announced in the coming weeks.
The federal government is Canada’s largest employer, and LeBlanc said the vaccine mandate is “aimed at helping Canada reach a minimum level of coverage needed to fully reopen the economy, and keep it open, as well as to protect thousands of workers”.
As of yesterday, 71% of the nation’s 38 million population have received at least one dose, while nearly 62% are fully vaccinated.
The announcement comes less than a month before the reopening of Canada’s borders to vaccinated foreign travellers scheduled for September 7, 1½ years after their closure due to the pandemic. – AFP, August 14, 2021
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