Ontario Nursing Home Will Mandate Booster Shot This Fall

Plan to force booster shot risks severely impacting service levels.

Au Chateau LTC Home Board Chair (Daniel Gagne) confirms to Provincial Board Appointee (Catherine Neddow) that staff will be required to get the XBB booster.

Au Chateau LTC home in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario is getting ready to once again enforce their controversial vaccination policy for it’s staff. And the ramification could be dangerous.

Au Chateau’s policy which was approved in September 2021 states that employees are to receive “any further recommended booster vaccination”. Au Chateau’s unique policy has allowed them to force employees to get the third shot back in the Winter and Spring of 2022.

After the third shot and the apparent lack of interest in getting additional boosters, Au Chateau Management quietly stopped enforcing their policy for most employees.

However the Board voted a few months ago to keep the vaccine policy in place. At the time, the Director, Jacques Dupuis told the Tribune newspaper that maintaining this policy was crucial in order to force the NEXT booster.

“We believe that some staff may resist taking future boosters” (if we don’t keep our mandate in place) - Au Chateau Director, Jacques Dupuis

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this nursing home is now getting ready to force their employees to take the new Monovalent XBB booster shot.

Staff Will Be Required to Get the Booster

This weeks’ board meeting the Director of the home sounded off the alarms of COVID.

Cases of Covid are popping up earlier than anticipated in September, not only in our home, but also community wide. What is alarming is the number of employee cases investigated that is at the same level as the height of Covid-19 outbreak in our home.

Then the board received the latest IPAC report (Infection Prevention and Control) that stated:

Receiving a booster dose in the Fall, as respiratory season commences, will maximize protection against COVID-19 when peak circulation of the virus is expected.

I inquired with multiple board members as to the status of Au Chateau’s vaccine policy and if staff would be required to get the booster. Board member, Catherine Neddow confirmed to me that the board intended to mandate the booster shot. She told me that “individual LTC Homes have retained the power to enforce their own vaccination policy”

She put this question to Board Chair, Daniel Gagne and his response was that staff would be required to get the booster by late fall. Gagne also responded to me separately saying that the board “stands behind their vaccination policy and meeting protocol*”.

*The meeting protocol he is referring to allowed them to deny me access to their open board meeting earlier this week because of my vaccination status.

A Booster Mandate is Very Dangerous For Service Levels

Last year less than a quarter of Canadians chose the booster shot. Experts are expecting even lower numbers this year. In the US, they have had access to the new booster since early September. But the Washington Post reported this week that only 3% of Americans have chosen to get it.

The reality is that most Canadians may refuse the newest booster. There a number of factors for this but among them is that the latest booster was designed to target a variant from last winter (XBB) that is no longer in circulation. The higher likelihood of adverse events (compared to other traditional vaccines) is also a factor in many people’s decision making.

This is presenting a very dangerous possibility for organizations such as Au Chateau who may be putting over half their staff on leave if they refuse the latest booster shot. Director Jacques Dupuis stated to the Tribune in May that at least 7 employees (out of approximately 100) have been let go because of these rules so far. Au Chateau, like many LTC homes is constantly facing staff shortages and this policy risks putting service levels in a dangerous territory just ahead of winter.

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