‘Staffing Pressures’ Reported Amid New Vaccine Mandate

New Brunswick’s health minister says she has “no regrets about staying strong” on the province’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for public sector workers.

Those without two doses, or without a first dose and a confirmed appointment for a second, were placed on unpaid leave as of the end of the workday last Friday.

Dorothy Shephard said as of late Friday, about 325 employees within the Horizon and Vitalité health networks did not meet the new vaccination mandate.

“Those are dispersed throughout the network and the health authorities felt that it was very manageable,” Shephard told reporters Monday during a news conference in Saint Andrews.

Shephard said there were also a “very, very low” number of employees within Extra-Mural/Ambulance New Brunswick who remained unvaccinated.

As of Thursday, nearly 2,000 employees across all government departments — about 3.3 per cent of the workforce — were unvaccinated.

Shephard said she had not yet received an update on the number of employees who were not fully vaccinated within other government departments.

A spokesperson for Finance and Treasury Board said all departments will report the final number of employees who are on unpaid leave by Tuesday.

But the impacts of the new vaccination mandate were already being felt within at least one department: Education and Early Childhood Development.

There were a higher number of late buses and cancellations than usual in some school districts across the province on Monday.

A spokesperson for the department said it was due to “staffing pressures related to GNB’s vaccination policy requirements, logistical needs, isolation requirements or illness.”

“The recruitment and retention of supply teachers, bus drivers and various other casual positions has presented challenges even before the pandemic, though pressures have since increased within the system,” Flavio Nienow said in an email to our newsroom.

Nienow said the department has held 11 driver training courses for more than 1-hundred trainees since August and will continue to host more throughout the year.

Meanwhile, as some provinces back down on their vaccination mandates over staffing concerns, New Brunswick has no plans to back down.

“I have no regrets about staying strong on this,” said Shephard. “We need to provide patients and employees of the [regional health authorities] a healthy and safe work environment, and vaccination is the best way to do that.”