In accordance with provincial direction, Joseph Brant Hospital established COVID-19 Immunization and Management policies in September that apply to everyone who works at and with the hospital.  

Like many other hospitals in Ontario including those in our region, we recognize the importance of mandatory vaccination of health care workers as a critical tool in protecting patients, physicians, staff and volunteers safety, as well as avoiding disruption to vital hospital services and programs.

For these reasons, we made it a requirement under our policy that all JBH employees, credentialed staff (such as physicians), contracted staff, learners and volunteers are to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1, unless they have a medical or Human Rights code exemption.

As of November 9:

• 1,770 (97.25%) of our active JBH employees are fully vaccinated
• 38 JBH employees have been placed on an unpaid leave of absence for not meeting the requirements of the hospital’s policy
• 13 JBH employees have been terminated

When it comes to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination, each hospital is responsible for making decisions in the best interest of their patients and the communities they serve. All of our actions – including mandatory COVID-19 vaccination – are guided by our mission to provide quality patient care through our values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Excellence. It is what our community expects and what we strive for every day.

We also took this step with careful and thoughtful consideration of the potential impacts. Vaccination rates among our staff and medical professionals who work in our hospital have risen steadily since we introduced these policies two months ago. This helps reduce transmission of COVID-19 and decreases the risk of disruption to hospital operations caused by outbreaks and other unexpected staff absences due to illness.

Although the Ontario government has indicated that at this time there will be no province-wide mandate requiring all healthcare workers to become fully vaccinated, our commitment to our mandatory vaccination policies has not changed. We believe it is the right decision for JBH, to protect the safety of our patients, their loved ones, our teams and our community.

Thank you for your support of our hospital. Please, stay safe and take care.