On January 13, 2022, Quebec’s premier François Legault proposed a “health contribution” tax for unvaccinated individuals living in the province. The tax amount is undetermined, but the Premier of Quebec, Legault, says he plans to bring a detailed bill to the legislature in February. Polling from the BMJ suggests that Quebec’s population is more open to vaccine mandates than the rest of Canada, which is evident in the province’s high rate of vaccination.  

Legault’s “health contribution” fee is not the first vaccine legislation imposed in the province. Quebec introduced a new rule on January 18, 2022, just a few days after Legault’s tax proposal, that requires proof of vaccination for entry into its liquor and cannabis stores. These rulings have only been in effect for just over a week and first dose vaccination appointments in Quebec have surged –  since the implementation of the mandate, initial vaccine doses rose from 1,500 per day on average to 6,000 per day. Just the announcement of a new fee for unvaccinated individuals has propelled first dose vaccination appointments to 7,000, according to Quebec’s health minister, Christian Dubé. 

Such restrictions may seem excessive considering 85 percent of eligible people in Quebec and 82 percent of all of Canada have received at least one dose of the vaccine, significantly higher percentages than the global rate of 60 percent at the time this was written. However, COVID cases in Quebec had been rising prior to the new mandates. On November 20, 2021, Canada had about 65 positive cases per million people over a seven day rolling average. However, this average rose to 990 per million people on January 3, 2022. Fortunately, following the implementation of strict restrictions, average cases over a seven day rolling period dropped to 708 per million people on January 20. 

The health contribution fee received backlash not only from other Canadian provinces but also from the Canadian government. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed uncertainty whether this tax can be implemented within the Canadian universal health care system, as Legault has not yet provided details regarding the tax’s intended implementation. The Canada Civil Liberties Association claims that the tax violates constitutional rights by pressuring citizens to get vaccinated, which threatens patient autonomy. The group also raises concern for individuals who face “serious barries to accessing health care” which the CCLA does not elaborate upon in their statement, arguing that the tax is discriminatory towards these citizens. In response to concerns from Prime Minister Trudeau and the Canada Civil Liberties Association, Legault states that the tax will not apply to individuals with a medical exemption, and he plans to use the tax money to compensate for the disproportionate amount of unvaccinated citizens filling Quebec’s hospitals after contracting COVID.  

Regardless of the contradicting opinions on Quebec’s tax, just its announcement’s immediate success at increasing COVID vaccination appointments is significant, especially for a region that has such a high rate of vaccination already. Considering that the COVID pandemic has been ongoing for nearly two years despite mass vaccination and mask wearing campaigns, it is crucial that nations take new measures to combat the new omicron variant and potential future variants. Unvaccinated individuals without a medical exemption are preventing the rest of the global population at risk, especially with the recent trends of hospitalization. According to the Centers for Disease Control, unvaccinated individuals are 23 times more likely to be hospitalized than adults who were vaccinated and boosted. If the pandemic continues to follow current trends, hospitals may refuse service to the unvaccinated due to a lack of capacity. Although mandates like the one proposed in Quebec may seem extravagant given Canada’s vaccination rates, these mandates could very well provide us with the push we need to defeat COVID.

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