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Rally held outside Barrie hospital against mandatory vaccines for health-care workers

BarrieToday spoke to 47 random people at the event and the vast majority indicated they don't work in the health-care field

Around 300 people rallied outside Barrie's Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) Wednesday afternoon in what organizers say was a protest against newly announced mandatory vaccinations for health-care workers. 

However, BarrieToday spoke to 47 random people at the rally. Of those, 44 said they were not health-care workers. The other three said they were, but were unable or unwilling — to show they worked in the health-care sector or at the Barrie hospital. 

Two of the three said they were RVH employees, but were unable to show hospital identification, even when guaranteed anonymity. One person said they were reluctant because they feared losing their job.

The event was mainly organized by the People’s Party of Canada and included some of its local candidates in the upcoming federal election, including Chris Webb (Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte), Corrado Brancato (Barrie-Innisfil), and Adam Minatel (Simcoe-Grey).

Jamie Wey, who is the PPC's event co-ordinator for Barrie-Innisfil, issued a media advisory about the protest on Tuesday. 

On Wednesday afternoon, Wey told BarrieToday the event was “in solidarity with the health-care workers who are being mandated to take the vaccine.”

On Tuesday, RVH announced it was implementing mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for all employees and anyone who does business at the Barrie hospital. RVH officials have also said around 80 per cent of staff and physicians who have declared their vaccination status say they have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Brancato and Webb both spoke at the rally and asked for health-care workers to come up and say a few words, but no one accepted the invitation.

BarrieToday also reached out to Webb and Brancato for comment after the rally about why little to no local health-care workers seemed to be present at the event. Neither candidate responded. 

In an email to BarrieToday, RVH president and chief executive officer Janice Skot said people are allowed to voice their concerns, but she said the hospital's new vaccination policy is in the best interest of staff and patients.

“People are always free to express their opinions, but as a health-care centre, RVH must do everything possible to protect our patients and the people who care for them," she said. "Those precautions include strict adherence to safety protocols, universal mask-wearing and our mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for health-care workers.

“Since the pandemic began, RVH has cared for more than 500 COVID patients. Many of them have been critically ill and, sadly, 84 have died due to COVID-related complications," Skot added. "Our employees and physicians, who are exhausted, have seen first-hand the tragic, heartbreaking impacts of this virus, and RVH supports any effort to keep our patients, our team and our community safe.”

RVH says it hopes to achieve 100 per cent vaccination through its new policy. The hospital has 3,342 employees, 471 physicians, dentists and midwives, and 614 volunteers.