How are nursing, senior homes protecting workers?
The United Nations may be seeing the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, but vaccination requirements for health-care system workers continue to be in place in British Columbia.
Healthcare system workers will continue to be required to be vaccinated with a primary COVID-19 vaccine series, unless they have obtained an exemption from the provincial health officer (PHO), according to the provincial government.
This is after the government revised two PHO orders to make them consistent with the updated Health Professionals COVID-19 Vaccination Status Information Order issued on June 10, 2022.
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The orders continue to apply to people who work for health authorities, agencies funded by health authorities and long-term care and assisted-living facilities. However, they do not apply to regulated health professionals who do not work in these settings, such as dentists, naturopathic doctors and opticians.
“Given the high rates of vaccination in these professions, and the current state of the pandemic, the PHO has decided to not require private, regulated health professionals to be vaccinated at this time,” according to the provincial government.
“The PHO and the ministry continue to work with these groups and their regulatory colleges on a process for informed decision-making for patients and clients.”
Care homes
Vaccination for healthcare workers proved to be essential not just in B.C., especially in 2021.
Across the provinces, 43.3 per cent of nursing homes had at least one resident case of COVID-19, potentially exposing healthcare workers to the virus, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan).
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Across regions, 64.2 per cent of Alberta nursing homes reported that at least one of their residents was diagnosed with COVID-19, followed by Ontario (56.5 per cent), Manitoba (44.4 per cent), Quebec (43.9 per cent), British Columbia (38.0 per cent), Saskatchewan (35.0 per cent) and the Atlantic Provinces (13.0 per cent)
Also, 41.2 per cent of seniors’ homes across the provinces had at least one resident with COVID-19. In 2021, 57.6 per cent of Manitoba seniors’ homes reported at least one resident case followed by Alberta (52.4 per cent), Quebec (45.5 per cent), Ontario (45.1 per cent), British Columbia (29.8 per cent), Saskatchewan (29.2 per cent) and the Atlantic Provinces (17.1 per cent).
Over 70 per cent of nursing homes and over 55 per cent of seniors’ homes reported an increase in direct care overtime hours compared to the previous year.
Read more: 3 in 4 Canadian nurses burnt out during third wave
And the majority of workers abided by COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Taking both nursing homes and seniors’ homes together, 85.9 per cent of facilities had a 95 per cent or greater employee vaccination coverage in Canada, including nearly nine in ten (87.3 per cent) nursing homes and over four-fifths (85.1 per cent) of seniors’ homes.
