The Canadian province of Quebec is considering imposing a special tax on people who are not vaccinated against covid-19, for "the consequences" that the cost of caring for patients who have refused to receive the vaccines entails for the provincial health system.
Quebec’s proposal, unveiled Tuesday by Provincial Premier Francois Legault, comes just days after Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos declared that Canadian provinces need to consider making vaccinations mandatory. against covid-19.
Legault affirmed today in a press conference that the attitude of the anti-vaccines has "consequences" for the health system and it is not fair that the rest of Quebecers have to pay for their refusal.
The Quebec premier added that the deniers "they put a very important load" in the health system and what is "normal" that the majority of the population demands a response to their attitude.
In recent weeks, the rapid increase in the number of covid cases due to the omicron variant has caused the saturation of the country’s health systems. In the last 40 days, since ómicron was detected in Canada, the country has recorded more confirmed cases of covid-19 than in all of 2020.
Pressure on the health system forced the province of Ontario, the most populous in Canada, to allow 300 health professionals with foreign degrees to work in hospitals on Tuesday.
This staff will be joined by another 5,700 extra workers, including nursing students, medical students and other students in health programs, who will be hired in the coming weeks to try to relieve the pressure.
In Quebec, yesterday 2,742 people were hospitalized for covid-19, 188 more than on Monday. According to provincial authorities, although only 10% of the population of Quebec is not vaccinated against the pandemic, these people represent 50% of patients admitted to hospitals.
The attention needed to treat these patients has caused some Montreal hospitals to start postponing surgeries for people suffering from cancer or heart problems.
But the idea of ​​imposing a tax on the unvaccinated who do not have a medical exemption has already begun to be contested by some quarters.
On Facebook, a group of Quebecers opposed to vaccines described Legault’s ad as a strategy of "psychological warfare" and warned that they will go to court if the Quebec government finally imposes the tax.
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