Almost all public servants fully vaccinated against COVID-19

November 3, 2021 – Ottawa, Ontario – Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The Honourable Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board, made the following statement today further to a COVID-19 vaccination policy announced on October 6, 2021 by the Government of Canada:

A month ago, we asked employees of the federal public service to attest to their vaccination status. They stepped up. As of today, 99.7% of public servants have attested. I can now report that 95% of the approximately 268,000 federal public servants have confirmed they are fully vaccinated. Together with those who have had one shot, 98% of public servants are either fully or partially vaccinated. This data is being made available and updated on a weekly basis.

Public health authorities continue to advise that vaccination, used in combination with other public health measures, is the most effective tool to reduce the risk of COVID-19, including where we work.

The Government of Canada is our country’s largest employer. I would like to thank the more than a quarter of a million public servants across Canada and around the world who have demonstrated leadership in our national vaccination effort against COVID-19.

We know that having a fully vaccinated workforce means that not only are worksites safer, so are the communities where this large population lives and works. It also means better protection for Canadians coming in person to access government services.

Requests from the approximately 1% of employees who are seeking accommodation are being assessed on a case-by-case basis in departments. The public service has long had processes in place for considering requests for accommodation. Privacy considerations are central to how we designed the policy and how we continue to implement it.

This vaccination requirement is about public health, and it’s working. We are seeing that the vast majority of public servants who are able to be vaccinated are vaccinated. All employees have access to Public Health Agency of Canada/Health Canada information about vaccines and how they work so they can understand how vaccination helps protect them and their workplaces against COVID-19.

Vaccination helps employees have confidence that every measure has been taken to ensure the safety of their workplace, wherever it is.

It also strengthens Canada’s ability to sustain economic recovery everywhere public servants live and work.