Council members met last night at Highline Hall in Wellington as the meeting streamed on Zoom. Photo by Felicia Massey, QNet News
By Felicia Massey [1]
PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY – Prince Edward County council is mandating that all municipal employees have both COVID-19 vaccines by mid-November.
Council voted [2] in favour of the policy recommended by Chief Administrative Officer Marcia Wallace on Tuesday.
Their was debate before the mandate was passed.
Councillor Bill Roberts said he supported the motion, but “at the same time [can] empathize with and can understand why some folks are on the fence about COVID-19 vaccinations.”
He goes on to address online misinformation regarding the shot.
“I think people need to hear us say that there are no microchips in these vaccines. There isn’t some sort of foreign plot, there are no deep state conspiracies going on and certainly- and I’ve seen this several times- your forehead is not going to turn into a fridge magnet.”
Councillor Andreas Bolik countered with a discussion on medical privacy.
“If we now fire people who for whatever reason imminently do not want to be vaccinated, that causes all kinds of social and public health issues. I’m not sure that this is a solution, and even if it were, is it the solution that intrudes on people the least?”
Bolik proposed a rapid testing system for those employees who wish to not get vaccinated.
PEC is following the lead of neighbouring councils in Belleville and Hastings County as they too have a mandatory vaccine policy.
The deadline to have both vaccines is Nov. 15th, 2021. This means in order to have your second dose for more than 14 days, you must receive it no later than Oct. 31st, 2021.
Employees with medical exemptions must be tested for COVID-19 twice weekly.