Restrictions may be placed on Ontarians who won’t get Covid-19 vaccine — health minister

“That will be up to the individual person to decide whether they want to receive the vaccine to be able to do these things or not,” she added. (Pixabay photo)

Receiving a vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) may be voluntary in Ontario, but their citizens may face restrictions if they choose not to get a vaccine shot.

The province’s health minister, Christine Elliot, said the decision to get vaccinated will be up to their citizens, but should some of them decide to not receive the Covid-19 vaccine, she stressed that some restrictions could be applied on them “for travel purposes, to be able to go to theatres and other places.”

“That will be up to the individual person to decide whether they want to receive the vaccine to be able to do these things or not,” she added.

Meanwhile, the official said Ontario will give some sort of documentation as proof that an individual got vaccinated, adding that it will be “essential” for them especially if they go out.

“That will be very important for people to have, for travel purposes. Perhaps work purposes, for going to theatres or cinemas or any other places where people will be in closer physical contact when we get through the worst of the pandemic,” Elliot said.

Health Canada has approved the vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech, saying that it “meets the department’s stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements for use in Canada.”

“Canadians can feel confident that the review process was rigorous and that we have strong monitoring systems in place. Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada will closely monitor the safety of the vaccine once it is on the market and will not hesitate to take action if any safety concerns are identified,” it said in a statement.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier said that Canada will be receiving up to 249,000 initial doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine this month.

A 90-year-old woman, Margaret Keenan, was the first in the world who received the Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine was administered to her by a Filipina nurse named May Parsons.