Most SHA employees have submitted vaccination declarations

The deadline for Saskatchewan Health Authority employees to submit their vaccination status declarations has come and gone.

It’s part of the SHA’s phased-in approach to mandating vaccinations for all 44,000 employees. They include not only doctors, nurses, therapists and other medical staff, but also those who work at care homes and employees such as janitors and cafeteria workers.

Derek Miller, the SHA’s chief of emergency operations, says tens of thousands of employees had handed in their paperwork as of Friday morning.

“We have just over 40,000 self-declarations (that) have been completed. And of those, just shy of 39,000 are from SHA employees, and others that are remaining are from external groups like students and volunteers,” he said.

Miller says the vast majority of employees — about 98 per cent — have indicated they have been or will be fully vaccinated by early November.

One per cent of respondents said they would opt for the monitored testing program, while another one per cent said they would try and get either a medical or religious exemption under the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.

In early October, Dr. Kevin Wasko, the physician executive with Integrated Rural Health, said the SHA could no longer provide a safe workplace without all employees being fully vaccinated.

He added there had been multiple occasions of COVID-19 transmission from employees to co-workers, or from employees to patients, especially in long-term care homes.