Education Minister Stephen Lecce was asked today about making vaccinations mandatory for students and staff and why they won't have rapid testing for asymptomatic students.
The Province of Ontario does not have any plans to make vaccines mandatory for students or staff at Ontario schools.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce was asked why the COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory, while other vaccines are.
"The Government has been clear, the Premier has been clear, we will not mandate vaccine requirement for schools, staff or students."
Lecce says they're hoping students and staff will get vaccinated on their own.
"Our aim is to encourage vaccination on a volunteer level. It is promising to see, the general population numbers of vaccinations are north of 80 percent and a great level of partnership of school boards and health units, really encouraging parents of 12 plus students to get vaccinated."
Vaccination first doses in Ontario are 80.5% for everyone 12+ and second doses are now 70.5%. The Province is hoping to reach 90% of first doses by the time school starts.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kieran Moore explains why they will not have rapid tests in schools.
"The issue with using a rapid test is when the community rates are very low, as they are now, there is a significant risk of rapid testing being a false positive when you have a very low rate of infection."
Dr. Moore says that rapid testing asymptomatic students could lead to many false positives.
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