Windsor city council adopts new COVID-19 vaccination policy for staff

Windsor City Council has approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine policy that sets a deadline for all municipal staff to receive their shots.

Under the policy, passed at a special meeting on Thursday, employees would need to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 15 or be placed on unpaid leave.

"We are doing all we can to ensure staff and residents are as safe as they can be from COVID-19," Mayor Drew Dilkens said in a media release.

"As leaders, each of my council colleagues as well as the city's corporate leadership team have already been fully vaccinated, and now we're requiring staff to do the same for the good of our community."

The plan is different from what was announced last month. At that time, council passed a motion directing staff to develop a policy modelled on the one in place for employees of the Ontario government, which requires anyone not fully vaccinated to get tested twice a week.

The updated policy has no testing option. Exceptions on human rights grounds will be assessed on an individual basis, the city says.

The updated vaccination rules apply to employees, council, as well as contractors and volunteers accessing indoor city facilities.

Health officials have estimated that some 70,000 people in Windsor and Essex County are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination but have not yet received a single dose.

There are more than 400 active cases in the region, and the current case rate is among the highest in Ontario.