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Protection of Frontline Workers Critical for the Protection of All Saskatchewan Health Care Workers Demand Changes to Vaccination PlanHealth care workers in Saskatchewan are demanding that the provincial government prioritize health care workers in its vaccination planning schedule. The immunization of health care workers who are on the front lines of the fight to curb COVID-19 is not only a matter of protecting their own health but of ensuring that they neither spread nor contract the virus in the course of their work. Immunization of health care workers is universally recognized as an essential element of a socially-responsible vaccination plan to protect society. Immunization of health care workers is one of the guidelines of Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunizations. The Saskatchewan government plan does not adequately protect health care workers. On February 16, in an open letter to the Premier, the Minister of Health and the province's Chief Medical Health Officer, Barbara Cape, the President of Service Employees International Union West, pointed out "I wish to draw to your attention the shocking failure of your vaccine delivery plan to appropriately prioritize workers across the full range of interrelated job classifications on which our health care and long-term care systems depend."
The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses responded immediately to the February 9 announcement with a letter from SUN President Tracy Zambory denouncing the decision and calling on nurses, who "are essential to the functioning of our health system and to us beating COVID-19" to email the Premier, the Health Minister, officials of the Saskatchewan Health Authority and their Member of the Legislative Assembly, calling on them to reinstate the original plan to prioritize all health care workers and other essential workers in Phase Two and that Phase One should be expanded to include residents and staff of congregate living settings that provide care for seniors and all health care workers whose work involves direct contact with patients. On February 16, under pressure from health care workers, the government made some amendments to include more categories of health care workers in Phase One, but did not implement the demands of health care workers that all should be prioritized in Phase Two. Health care workers and their unions are continuing to mobilize to demand that the government reinstate its original plan, to prioritize vaccinations for all health care workers in order to protect the workers and everyone that they look after. The fact that Canada's economy is not self-reliant and vaccines are purchased from big pharmaceutical companies over which Canadians exercise no control and whose aim is to serve the narrow private interests of their shareholders must be tackled by the workers across the country. To force Canadians to compete for available vaccines and accept that they are a "scarce resource" is unacceptable. Everyone should be vaccinated in a timely manner in a public process which is coherent and orderly. Nobody needs the stress which governments, employers, private interests and media are adding to an already stressful situation as they seek to cover up the essential matter that the direction of Canada's economy is unsustainable and must be changed. (Photo: CFNU)
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The
government of Saskatchewan is implementing a two phase vaccine rollout,
originally announced in January and amended twice since then.
Phase One, from December 2020 to March 2021 includes the vaccination of
certain health care workers, including selected, but not all, hospital
workers, ambulance teams, workers in congregate living settings such as
long-term care and personal care homes. Phase One also includes
everyone over 70 years of age and those over 50 years of age in
remote communities and Northern Saskatchewan. Phase Two, anticipated to
begin between April and June 2021, is "focused on vaccinating the
general population by age, as well as the clinically extremely
vulnerable and people in emergency shelters and group homes." The
original plan that was announced on January 14 also prioritized
additional health care workers in Phase Two. On February 9 the
government announced a change and that there would be no prioritization
of any health care workers in Phase Two.