ONE TENTH

As the percentage of Canadians who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 continues to rise, it's becoming clear the majority of the population have been following public health recommendations and are doing their part to get beyond this pandemic.

But there remains a segment of Canadian society that refuses to get vaccinated or are reluctant to do so, fuelling much of the fourth wave, which now appears to be waning.

Our leaders have used a number of strategies to try to motivate the unvaccinated to get their shots with varying success, and most recently have begun to bring in vaccine mandates that require full vaccination to access nonessential services like restaurants and bars. In addition, they have also set deadlines for workers in many sectors, including health care and long-term care, to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs or being placed on unpaid leave. Such a strategy has benefits, but it also creates risks.

Most Canadians are aware of vaccine passports which will allow them to enter businesses such as restaurants, gyms and bars, and will soon be necessary to travel. Whether it's a QR code downloaded on your phone or a paper copy, they are designed to keep these places open and avoid the shutdowns experienced earlier in the pandemic.

While it hopefully encourages people who want the freedom to do these things to get vaccinated, it does leave these businesses with the responsibility of enforcing these guidelines and dealing with unhappy or unruly customers who do not want to comply.

While most businesses seem to be supportive of these measures, others are not, creating another enforcement problem. Will governments be willing to severely fine or close down businesses who will not comply? What happens to the workers who are then impacted if businesses close?

More recently, most governments have announced that all workers in certain sectors, in particular health and long-term care, will be required to be fully vaccinated in order to work. As people who work in such fields often work with vulnerable populations, such measures are logical, based on sound scientific evidence and it is quite likely that a very high percentage of these workers are already vaccinated.

However, this pandemic has shown there is a shortage of workers in these fields, especially long-term care, and hospitals have struggled through this pandemic with staff shortages and worker burnout. If even a small percentage refused to get vaccinated, this could have a major impact on our system and governments need to be careful about how they enforce such measures. Quebec recently announced an extension for health workers to meet this requirement and Ontario's premier, Doug Ford, has stated publicly that the fear of losing staff is behind his reluctance to enforce vaccination in the health field.

Personal opinions and misinformation have often formed the basis upon which some people make their choices instead of sound scientific information from public health experts. We have now reached the stage of the pandemic where we have the proper tools to be able to live with COVID-19 and people are becoming less patient with those who are resistant and are more likely to resort to more punitive methods to get them to comply.

While this might be necessary in certain areas, we should be compassionate and caring towards those who, for whatever reason, don't want to be vaccinated. The new vaccine guidelines will eventually create more restrictions for them than the virus itself created and they may overcome their fears or concerns.

Until that time comes, we need to remember that while we don't all have the same opinions, we are all part of the same community, and turning on one another will do nothing to help but will only make matters worse.

Brian Hodder works in the field of mental health and addictions. He can be reached at bdhodder@hotmail.com.