Addington Highlands approves a covid vaccination policy

Craig Bakay | Oct 27, 2021

Addington Highlands Council approved a new covid-19 vaccination policy in principle at its regular (online) meeting Oct. 20 but that approval wasn’t unanimous. The draft policy will now be circulated to staff and the unions for their input and will come back to Council for the second meeting in November.

The new policy stops short of requiring staff and other “team members” such as Council, volunteers, students and committee members to get the vaccine, opting for the wording “The Township of Addington Highlands promotes and strongly encourages the use of covid-19 vaccines.”

Proof of vaccination is voluntary but “it is anticipated fully vaccinated team members will be exempt from some or all personal protective equipment or other safety protocols in place as the spread of covid-19 eases.”

Team members who do not submit proof of vaccination will be required to continue wearing PPE and following other safety measures (which may be required of those having to work within two metres of unvaccinated people) and will be prohibited from attending indoor meetings, conferences, training sessions, or other events in person. During periods of a declared outbreak of covid-19, unvaccinated staff may be placed on an unpaid leave of absence until the situation is declared over by Public Health.

Unvaccinated team members without acceptable medical evidence exempting them from vaccination, will be required to complete Vaccine Hesitancy Training through HR downloads.

The Township will attempt to maximize vaccination opportunities to the extent possible.

“I think I can live with the policy,” said Coun. David Miles. “But is it possible to take the onus off the Township and put it on Health Canada or KFL&A Health Unit?

“There have been some accidents and would that put us in a position of liability?”

“It is our policy and it says right on it, it’s not mandatory,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

“I think we have an obligation to encourage the health of our employees and those we interact with,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch.

“They (vaccines) don’t stop you from getting or spreading covid,” said Miles. “There was a study in our local paper that said you have half as much chance of passing it on.

“Obviously I have some problems with the whole thing but it doesn’t stop the disease, just the symptoms of those who get it.”

“There have been almost five million deaths from the disease,” said Coun. Kirby Thompson. “We haven’t had anywhere near that from vaccines.

“It’s a flu shot and we’ve had those for years.”

“We had the option to make it very restrictive but we haven’t done that,” said Fritsch.

“I can accept this,” said Miles. “I think whoever wrote this did a good job of giving some freedoms.”

But he still voted against the policy.

Road Report

Manager of Roads and Waste Brett Reavie reported that waste sites are now on winter hours and the Denbigh Closure Plan and ECA amendment are now in the process of being completed.

He said the County Road 30 culvert liner is complete other than some cleanup and ditching is still progressing in both wards. Most of the required culvert replacements are complete and the winter sand stockpile in Denbigh is complete.

Accessibility Plan

Council approved a multi-year accessibility plan draft and directed that a bylaw be prepared for a future meeting.