Important information regarding COVID-19 vaccination requirements for suppliers
Released September 16, 2021 | Updated May 3rd, 2022
Update: Masking Policy Remains in Place at Queen's Until May 31, 2022; Queen's COVID-19 health and safety measures have been updated as of May 1, 2022. Updates of these measures post May 1st is based on the current state of the pandemic and corresponding health considerations. If the situation changes, Queen's may update requirements on short notice. All suppliers should consult the up to date information on attending campus or Queen's property as communicated on the university's 'Our Safe Return to Campus' to ensure compliance to requirements to keep our community safe.
RE: REQUIRED COMPLIANCE WITH QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY MANDATORY VACCINATION POLICY
On August 30, 2021, the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health (OCMOH) issued Instructions regarding COVID-19 vaccination policies to certain “Covered Organizations”, including Ontario universities. In accordance with those Instructions, the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Queen’s University must establish, implement, and ensure compliance with, a COVID-19 vaccination policy by its faculty, staff, students, contractors and volunteers. A copy of the Queen’s University Policy Regarding Mandatory Vaccination Requirements for In-Person University Activities can be found here.
Among other things, the University is requiring any suppliers or contractors and their sub-contractors who will attend any University property or use University facilities or attend any in-person University activities, indoors or outdoors, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It is the University’s understanding that supplier/contractor attestations of proof of full vaccination of employees is currently acceptable. Further details on any requirement to submit proof of vaccination will be sent when we are instructed to.
To that end, if you are a supplier or a contractor with personnel attending any of the above as part of their work for you, you must attest that your on-site personnel are fully vaccinated and that you have confirmed their vaccination status by viewing their proof of vaccination. Compliance to this attestation requirement must be submitted by suppliers or contractors immediately.
Please submit a completed Supplier and Contractor Attestation Form1 within your Queen's University registered supplier portal profile, under the new registration profile menu folder called “Vaccination Attestation”. If you are not a registered supplier or have misplaced your portal login link, please contact aq.supplier.vaccination@queensu.ca for assistance.
The University will rely on the information in the Supplier and Contractor Attestation Form to verify compliance with its Policy and statutory obligations, and reserves the right to request proof of vaccination from any or all of your on-site personnel. Further, you must collect proof of vaccination for each of your on-site personnel.
If new staff members are required on University property after your initial submission, you must ensure that your attestation form is resubmitted to reflect the new personnel.
Please log in to your Queen’s University registered supplier portal profile as applicable and provide the new attestation(s) within the registration profile menu folder called “Vaccination Attestation”. If any of your personnel require a medical or creed-based accommodation from full vaccination, you must provide the relevant information within the registration profile folder called “Vaccination Attestation”. You should advise your personnel that recognized accommodations to COVID-19 vaccination are extremely limited and that the University may request supplementary information to substantiate any requests. For example, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health have specifically identified only two acceptable medical accommodations2, and other valid human rights-based accommodations (i.e., creed) are likely to be similarly rare.
If the University approves your personnel’s accommodation request, they will be subject to additional health and safety precautions, including twice weekly rapid antigen testing. Further information will be provided if an accommodation is approved. Please note that it will take time for the University to assess your personnel’s accommodation request. Until such time as the request is processed and approved, your personnel are not permitted to attend University property or use University facilities or attend any in-person University activities, indoors or outdoors.
We thank you in advance for your cooperation. If you have any questions about this letter, the University’s obligations under the OCMOH Instructions, the University’s Policy or the Supplier and Contractor Attestation Form, please direct them to aq.supplier.vaccination@queensu.ca.
1 Attestation form must be downloaded, reviewed and signed by an authorized director/agent of your organization in order to be accepted by Queen's University
2 These exemptions are: (1) an allergist/immunologist-confirmed severe allergy or anaphylactic reaction to a previous dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or to any of its components that cannot be mitigated and (2) a diagnosed episode of myocarditis/pericarditis after receipt of an mRNA vaccine.