CHEO’s vaccination policy enters next phase

Ottawa — As a health-care organization, CHEO’s top priority is always the safety of the children, youth and families we serve, and all members of our team. As of today, 99.3% of full-time personnel and 97.6% of part-time and casual personnel are immunized.  We are thankful to everyone who has taken this critical step to help us deliver on our commitment to always put safety first.

Evidence-based vaccines add one more layer of protection to keep everyone safe at CHEO in addition to universal masking, physical distancing, entrance screening and other safety measures. At this moment in time, approximately 70% of the children and youth we serve are not currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Furthermore, the proportion of infants, children and youth with compromised immune systems at CHEO is much higher than in the general population. It is our duty at CHEO to do everything possible to protect those within our walls.

As of today, according CHEO’s Universal COVID-19 Immunization Policy, all CHEO personnel must be vaccinated. CHEO first announced this policy on August 19 with SickKids and Holland-Bloorview, and has since provided layers of support ranging from peer coaching, onsite vaccinations, education modules and regular reminders.

Of 3,865 total personnel, 3,815 (98.7%) have chosen to comply with our mandatory vaccine policy and 3 people have been granted a medical exemption. In total 47 personnel, which includes 18 full-time plus 29 part-time and casual, have chosen not to get vaccinated and are therefore being placed on unpaid suspension leave. We hope all of these people will choose to come back to work at CHEO by getting vaccinated in the next two weeks. If they don’t do so by October 29, their employment at CHEO will come to an end.

For the few who choose to end their employment at CHEO, we are thankful for their contribution to the organization and wish them well in their future endeavours.

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