The Quebec order of nurses (OIIQ) announced Monday that members who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 will have their permits to practice suspended as of Friday.
The decision comes only a few days ahead of the Oct. 15 province’s deadline, after which unvaccinated employees in the health sector face suspension without pay.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé welcomed the news.
“The signal is clear: it will not be possible to bypass compulsory vaccination in the health-care system on Oct. 15.” he wrote in French on Twitter. “I encourage all nurses who have not yet been vaccinated to go and do it now. It’s never too late.”
On Friday, Dubé said it was up to professional orders to make it clear to its members that if they wanted to practice in the health sector they needed to be vaccinated.
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There was concern that some front-line health-care workers would try to take jobs in the private sector where they wouldn’t have direct interaction with patients, rather than get vaccinated.
The OIIQ now joins the Collège des médecins, Quebec’s doctors’ order, which had already announced it would suspend the right to practise medicine of any member who refuses to be vaccinated.
— With files from The Canadian Press