Several Ontario hospitals have placed staff on unpaid leave or terminated them due to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies, but they say the numbers are relatively low and won't affect patient care.
A spokesman for Cambridge Memorial Hospital says 51 staff members who either haven't been vaccinated or won't share their status have been placed on leave today.
Stephan Beckhoff says nearly 97 per cent of staff are either fully or partially vaccinated and have attested they will have both doses by Nov. 9.
He says the low number of staff placed on leave is spread across corporate and clinical services, and the hospital is confident the losses will not hurt patient care.
St. Mary's General Hospital expects to put around 30 staff members on unpaid leave Wednesday.
Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare in Windsor, Ont., says it terminated 24 employees with cause last week, and since that amounts to just two per cent of its workforce it is well able to fill gaps to cover schedules.