The City of Cambridge is keeping its vaccine mandate for staff, even though COVID restrictions and proof of vaccination requirements have been removed from all of its facilities.
In an email to CambridgeToday on Friday, the city said "protecting the health and safety of our employees is a key priority.
"As such, vaccine mandates for City of Cambridge employees remain in place at this time."
The city, which joins several other municipalities in Ontario in keeping staff vaccine mandates, says the approach is consistent with its obligations under the Workplace Health and Safety Act to ensure employee safety.
Last September, the city began requiring staff to show proof of vaccination to avoid having to participate in an educational program on the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine and submit to regular rapid antigen screening. Those requirements included employees with medical or human rights code exemptions.
The move followed similar mandates at municipalities across the region.
Although the city told CambridgeToday on Friday it only affected a "small number" of employees, the city shared in early November that three of its employees were placed on unpaid leave after they refused to comply with the mandate.
At the time, the city said 88.32 per cent of its 882 active staff were fully vaccinated, leaving 103 city employees who weren't.
Under the mandate, new employees were also required to be fully vaccinated as a condition of employment.
Since then, the city hired 58 new employees, all of whom were required to provide proof of vaccination.
The city says it, along with its regional partners, "will continue to monitor the situation and amend as new Public Health, Provincial or Federal direction requires."
