More than 17,000 Quebec health-care workers face suspension for refusing COVID-19 vaccine

More than 17,000 health-care workers in Quebec will be suspended next month for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and now provincial officials are scrambling to fill in the gaps.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Christian Dubé told CBC on Monday that a total of 17,642 employees within Quebec’s health-care network still haven’t had their first dose.

Nearly half of those unvaccinated employees are front-line workers who are in direct contact with patients, the spokesperson said.

They will all be suspended Oct. 15 when the provincial decree that mandates all health-care workers be fully vaccinated kicks in.

Thousands more who’ve only received a first dose