Close X
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
ADVT 
National

Union Says Ontario Nurses Can't Be Forced To Wear Masks In Flu Season

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 Sep, 2015 12:35 PM
    TORONTO — The Ontario Nurses Association says hospitals will no longer be allowed to shame health-care workers into getting a flu shot following an arbitrator's ruling striking down a "vaccinate or mask" policy.
     
    About 30 Ontario hospitals implemented the policy, which forces nurses and other hospital workers to wear an unfitted surgical mask for the entire flu season if they do not get the influenza vaccine, ONA president Linda Haslam-Stroud said Thursday.
     
    The test case was against the Sault Area Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, which tried to use the policy to boost their staff immunization rates, added Haslam-Stroud.
     
    "They were basically coercing and shaming nurses into getting the influenza vaccine if they individually chose not to take it," she said. "They made them all wear masks and they had little stickers on their name tag that everyone knew meant 'I don't have my vaccine.'"
     
    The policy made private medical information public because everyone could tell who had been vaccinated and who had not, said Dr. Michael Gardam, director of infection prevention and control at the University Health Network and Women's College Hospital in Toronto.
     
    "Essentially they are outing you, because your personal health information — whether you get vaccinated or not — is now public knowledge because you're forced to wear a mask," said Gardam. "People know who you are."
     
    Arbitrator Jim Hayes found the "vaccinate or mask" policy was unreasonable, and "a coercive tool" to force heath-care workers to get the flu shot.
     
    Experts testified that it was illogical to force healthy nurses to wear masks, and Hayes concluded the masks were not protecting patients or nurses from the flu.
     
    "The sad part about it is it was giving our patients a false sense of security, and we knew that," said Haslam-Stroud.
     
    The Ontario Hospital Association said it was disappointed in the arbitrator's ruling.
     
    "In light of the arbitrator's decision we are considering a number of options," said OHA president Anthony Dale. "In addition, we will continue to work with government and our partners on best practices for the upcoming flu season."
     
    The influenza vaccine is only about 40 to 60 per cent effective even in good years, said Gardam, which means all hospital workers should wear masks all the time if they were actually effective at preventing the spread of the flu.
     
    "So the only way you can really explain that argument is to say 'well, it's not really that the masks are working,'" he said. "It's because the masks are a way of driving you towards vaccination."
     
    The policy "was symbolic rather than a scientifically based tool in the fight against influenza," and amounted to a "draconian shaking of the finger at nurses," said Haslam-Stroud.
     
    The 60,000-member ONA said there are provisions in its agreements with hospitals that require a non-vaccinated nurse to move to another ward if the medical officer of health determines there is a flu outbreak in the area where she works.
     
    "I am not going to suggest that anyone should be forced to take the vaccine," said Haslam-Stroud. "I personally take it, but it is an individual right as a nurse."
     
    The 'vaccinate or mask' policy started in British Columbia hospitals before moving to some health-care facilities in New Brunswick and Ontario.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Kamloops Woman Fined For Using Fireworks At Birthday Party During B.C. Drought

    Kamloops Woman Fined For Using Fireworks At Birthday Party During B.C. Drought
     A woman in Kamloops, B.C., was all fired up to enjoy a special birthday celebration, but firefighters managed to douse her enthusiasm — and a growing blaze — just in time.

    Kamloops Woman Fined For Using Fireworks At Birthday Party During B.C. Drought

    Defence Department, House Of Commons Credit Card Data In Ashley Madison Leak

    Defence Department, House Of Commons Credit Card Data In Ashley Madison Leak
    Analysis of leaked Ashley Madison data shows that some of the cheating website's customers made credit-card transactions from computers attached to the Department of National Defence and the House of Commons.

    Defence Department, House Of Commons Credit Card Data In Ashley Madison Leak

    Canadian Students From Waterloo University Develop Self-Driving Golf Cart

    Canadian Students From Waterloo University Develop Self-Driving Golf Cart
    WATERLOO, Ont. — A pair of Canadian university students have developed a working prototype for a self-driving electric shuttle.  

    Canadian Students From Waterloo University Develop Self-Driving Golf Cart

    Evacuation Alerts Possible As U.S. Fire Chars Its Way Toward Canadian Border

    Evacuation Alerts Possible As U.S. Fire Chars Its Way Toward Canadian Border
    Two southern British Columbia communities have been warned that evacuation alerts are possible as a huge wildfire burns in Washington state, just south of the Canadian border. 

    Evacuation Alerts Possible As U.S. Fire Chars Its Way Toward Canadian Border

    Indo-Canadian Filmmaker Nisha Pahuja Selected To Participate In Toronto Film Lab

    The NFB and the CFC announced on Thursday that four distinguished filmmakers including Pahuja have been selected to participate in the NFB/CFC Creative Doc Lab, 

    Indo-Canadian Filmmaker Nisha Pahuja Selected To Participate In Toronto Film Lab

    Parents Of Boy Killed In Foster Care Suing Saskatchewan Government

    Parents Of Boy Killed In Foster Care Suing Saskatchewan Government
    The parents of a six-year-old boy who was beaten to death by an older child while in foster case are suing the Saskatchewan government for negligence.

    Parents Of Boy Killed In Foster Care Suing Saskatchewan Government