Fresh from banning those who decided to forgo a COVID vaccination from entering liquor stores or cannabis shops, Canada’s heavily vaccinated Québec province is setting a financial penalty for the unjabbed.
During a Tuesday press conference, the province’s premier, François Legault, announced the government will be imposing a “health contribution” on those who refuse to get vaccinated for COVID-19 for non-medical reasons.
“Those who refuse to receive their first dose in the coming weeks will have to pay a new health contribution,” Legault said, arguing the measure would help with the rising pressure on the understaffed healthcare system. “The vaccine is the key to fight the virus,” the premier underlined.
Legault went to urge Québecers to focus on two strategies which, in his opinion, would get the province through the pandemic: Getting three doses of the COVID shots, and “reducing our contacts, especially with older people.” Nobody at the press conference asked the premier why fully vaccinated and boosted people would need to stay away from elders, who are also overwhelmingly vaccinated, or if this means that vaccines do not grant sufficient protection from the virus.
“These people,” Legault said, referring to the unvaccinated, “Put a very important burden on our healthcare network. And I think it is normal that the majority of the population is asking that there would be consequences [for those who refuse to get vaccinated].” He said that the 90 percent of the residents who got their shots “made some sacrifices,” and imposing a financial fee on those who did not would be “fair.”
Although the exact amount of the fines and their recurrence are yet to be revealed, the premier said he is consulting with the finance ministry. The only detail Legault provided on the fine was that it will be “significant,” warning that $50 to $100 “is not significant enough” in his opinion.
In addition to that, the premier maintained that his government will be expanding application of the vaccine passport requirements, but he argued that “we have to go further” than banning unvaccinated residents from public places, hence the new fee.
Quebec’s latest official data show the province recorded more than 8,700 new cases on Tuesday, along with 62 new deaths and 188 hospitalizations. That web resource also states that “For now, the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is under control in Québec.”
However, real-world data suggests it’s not only unvaccinated Québeckers who are straining the healthcare system. In fact, most of the new COVID patients are those who received both doses of the shot. The local media report that of the 433 new patients who checked in for COVID treatment on Tuesday, 290 were double-jabbed and 117 were unvaccinated. Among patients newly admitted to intensive-care units, 12 were unvaccinated, while 17 were double-vaccinated.
For perspective, the population of Québec is roughly 8.6 million. The 10 percent of the population who refused to get inoculated against COVID would be 860,00 people.
In a bid to stop the transmission of Omicron, Québec has already brought back some of the most draconian restrictions, including lockdowns of some public venues, temporary closures of the public schools except for children of essential workers, and a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
A vaccination passport is in place for everyone, both locals and tourists, age 13 and over in order to access certain non-essential activities. Québec only allows fully vaccinated folks to attend sporting activities. Even if the sports event is held outside, a maximum of 250 fully vaccinated people can attend.
Churches, dining rooms in restaurants, bars and casinos, indoor amusement centers, performance halls and cinemas, gyms and spas are closed. For most of the other venues that remain open, COVID protocols such as masking and capacity limits are in place.
Québec even put limits on private gatherings, allowing only six people to get together indoors.
The Canadian federal government signals that it is on board with Legault.
In a statement to Newsweek, the Canadian Office of the Minister of Health said, “The most important thing we can do to get through this pandemic is to drive up vaccination rates,” and that “Provinces and territories will continue to make decisions on their own public health measures that are within their jurisdiction.”
Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said last week he anticipated some of Canada’s provinces would make vaccinations mandatory given those without shots are creating a “sizeable burden to others.”
Duclos said, “I see in my own province 50 percent of hospitalizations now in Québec are due to people not having been vaccinated,” which, of course, could mean that the other half of the hospitalized were fully jabbed.
He added, “I think discussions need to be had about mandatory vaccinations because we have to get rid of COVID-19,” while also stressing that the decision will be in the hands of the provincial government.
Canada has imposed some of the harshest COVID mandates. In October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rolled out a plan that included a vaccine mandate for federally regulated industries, and a vax passport for everyone 12 and older who wanted to travel by plane, train or ship. The vax mandate also applies to the armed forces.
