Brighton has joined surrounding municipalities in implementing a COVID-19 vaccine policy

By Maria Toews

BELLEVILLE – Brighton is considering  a vaccine mandate that will require all county employees, contractors, volunteers and students as well as members of council and its committees  to be fully vaccinated if they attend county facilities. 

Members of the Brighton city council have decided to extend the Oct. 30 date to be fully immunized to Nov. 30. Photo by Maria Toews, QNet News

“I’m a strong believer in it,” said Bob Casselman, the chief administrative officer for Brighton.

“I believe we’re moving forward in the right direction with respect to ensuring that we make our workplace as safe as possible.”

All city employees and members of Brighton council will have to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30. This changed from Oct. 30 to give staff more time to comply with the mandate. 

“We have delayed a couple of weeks,” said Casselman, “and I think that getting effective communication out to the staff, community members and council members and giving them adequate time to get their vaccination and notice back to the municipality so that we can react accordingly is appropriate.” 

Quinte West passed its vaccine mandate policy at council on Monday night.

Many other surrounding municipalities have implemented similar policies including Hastings, Lennox and Addington, Prince Edward County and Napanee:

• Hastings’ vaccine policy has set Oct. 29 as the deadline to be fully immunized.
• Lennox and Addington’s vaccine policy has set Oct. 24 as the deadline to be fully immunized.
• Prince Edward County’s vaccine policy has set Nov. 15 as the deadline to be fully immunized.
• Napanee’s vaccine policy has set Oct. 22 as the deadline to be fully immunized.  

Despite being one of the last municipalities in the area to implement this mandate, the time frame for Brighton’s policy falls close to the other council’s timelines.

County employees, students, members of council and committees not vaccinated by this date will be required to have regular testing completed unless medically exempted.

They must also take a mandatory education session free of charge.