Quebec, the second most populous province of Canada, added a tax decision among the new COVID-19 decisions: Health tax for the unvaccinated. . .
Provincial Prime Minister Francois Legault said at a news conference during the week that Quebecers who refuse to be vaccinated without a valid medical justification “will have a bill to pay” and described it as an “equality issue”.
The Prime Minister said, “Not being vaccinated has consequences for our health care network, and it is not for all Quebecians to pay for it.” The statement continued: “At this time, these people place a very significant strain on our health care network. And I think it’s normal for the majority of the population to want this to be a consequence.”
Although the details have not been clarified yet, Legault said that a tax of 50 Canadian Dollars or 100 Canadian Dollars will not be sufficient in its opinion. Citizens with medical exemptions will not face the tax, the Prime Minister said, but all adults who do not receive their first dose of vaccine in the state “within the next few weeks” will be subject to the tax.
Such a tax would not only be “one of the strictest COVID-19 health measures in Canada,” local media said. At the same time, experts voice their concerns that this might violate an important principle in Canadian law: “The idea that everyone should have equal access to health care without financial (or other) barriers . . . ”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before in Canada. I’m worried about the precedent this will set,” Danyaal Raza, a doctor at Unity Health in Toronto and former head of Canadian Physicians for Medicare, told Reuters.
Speaking to CTV News on Wednesday, professor of bioethics Vardit Ravitsky said she is worried the tax will backfire and increase inequalities that the pandemic has already sharpened: “From an ethical standpoint, we try to choose the most equitable and possible public health interventions. It (tax) respects that principle.” Amounts such as $100, $500 may mean almost nothing for some families and can be an incredible burden for other families.
Still, at least the plan already seems to have been successful: After the anti-vaccine tax plan was announced, more than 7,000 Quebecs signed up to receive their first dose of vaccine.
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