Tuesday, January 11, 2022
New health contribution
Quebec wants to make vaccine refusers pay
In an international comparison, Canada has made incredibly high progress in vaccination. But even there there are people who absolutely do not want to be administered a vaccine. Quebec’s premier now wants to ask them to pay.
Unvaccinated residents in the Canadian province of Quebec will have to pay extra in the future, according to the local prime minister. “The vaccine is the key to fighting the virus. For this reason we are thinking of a contribution for adults who refuse to be vaccinated for non-medical reasons,” announced Premier François Legault. Anyone who refuses the first dose of a vaccine in the coming weeks will have to pay a new health contribution. How high this would be and when it should come into force initially remained unclear.
In Canada, which is already relatively strict with regard to Covid restrictions, the eastern province of Quebec with its over eight million inhabitants is considered to be particularly rigid. For example, there is a night curfew. Certain shops also have to remain closed on Sundays, which is otherwise not common in the North American country. With the new regulation, Quebec is taking the opposite approach to the widespread incentives for vaccination: For example, newly vaccinated people in parts of the USA receive money or monetary bonuses for immunization.
High vaccination rate in Canada
As in Europe and the United States, the omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Canada. However, the number of infections is significantly lower than in the neighboring country of the USA. Canada is one of the countries with the highest corona vaccination rate worldwide. More than 87 percent of the population over the age of twelve have already been vaccinated twice.
In November Canada announced plans for a law to criminalize protests against vaccination in hospitals. Attorney General David Lametti presented plans to amend the Criminal Code to include up to ten years’ imprisonment if, for example, health care workers were intimidated or prevented from doing their job.