Ontario’s chief medical officer says Quebec’s proposed tax on the unvaccinated is “punitive” and he will not recommend such a measure to his government.
“We have not made that recommendation to [the] government ever throughout this pandemic. It’s not one that we would bring forward. It does, in my mind, seem punitive,” he said.
Moore was responding to a question as to whether the Ontario government will follow Quebec’s approach to tax the unvaccinated, and whether there is any public health value to implementing such a measure.
“I think right now it’s a question of fairness for the 90 percent of the population who made some sacrifices,” he added. “I think we owe them this kind of measure.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford doubled down on Moore’s comments, saying his province will not follow Quebec’s footsteps either.
“If we go down that road, we are completely rubbishing the whole principle of universality of health care, which is why Alberta absolutely will not follow the decision of Quebec,” Kenney said during a Facebook town-hall meeting on Jan. 11.
During the press conference, Moore noted that the COVID-19 vaccines are still relatively “new” when asked why the province has not mandated vaccines in schools in order to increase uptake among children aged 5 to 11.
“It is a new vaccine, and as a result of that, we want greater experience with it before we'd ever mandate it, and I don’t think any jurisdiction in Canada has mandated the vaccine to date,” he said.
Moore, however, noted that Ontario has mandated vaccination for the “highest risk setting” of long-term care facilities.
“The increased risk of severe outcomes had to be balanced by maximizing immunization and protection of those individuals,” he said.
“That is as far as this government has gone in terms of mandating vaccination, and putting a penalty on those who have not been vaccinated has not been entertained by this government.”
