Vaccine certificate only way to prevent fall COVID-19 lockdown: Registered Nurses Association
Posted Aug 27, 2021 08:59:00 PM.
The Registered Nursing Association of Ontario (RNAO) believes a provincial COVID-19 vaccine certificate program is the only answer to prevent a fourth wave of the virus and another lockdown.
CEO Doris Grinspun tells CityNews Ottawa's The Rob Snow Show, unvaccinated patients are about to turn the provincial health care system on its head, and now is the time for the premier to reward those who have diligently been following Ontario's public health guidelines.
“[We need vaccine certificates so that] those that have done everything the premier has asked — lockdowns, masks, double vaccination — that they feel more protected than what they are already.”
The majority of medical officers of health from Ontario's 34 public health units are also calling for a province-wide certificate program.
“We need to use all the tools that we have to be able to protect the reopening of schools [and] to protect the businesses,” says Grinspun.
The CEO says she wants to see hospital beds being occupied by vaccinated patients who have been waiting up to 18 months for vital surgeries, instead of having those spaces being filled by unvaccinated patients whose illnesses are preventable.
“[Premier Doug Ford tells me,] 'Work with with me, Doris. Work with me. We are doing something.' Well, we cannot wait, premier.”
Grinspun points out that a vaccine certificate can be a simple, standardized document, which she thinks will help take the pressure off an already taxed health care system, as well as take the onus off of small businesses which are left to develop their own safety plans.
Listen to the full interview with Doris Grinspun on The Rob Snow Show:
