Waterloo child-care workers rally for stronger COVID-19 vaccine priority

Staff and workers at the Emmanuel at Brighton Child Care Centre in Waterloo ralliedMonday morning to callon the Ontario government to prioritize COVID-19 vaccines for early childhood educators (ECE) and daycarestaff.

The child-care centre was closed asstaff heldthe in-person and online rally, urging the province to "recognize the importance of the child-care sector and the risks its workers face" on the job.

"The fact that Emmanuel at Brighton front-line staff have organized this advocacy protest on their own time, andwithdrew their services and to go without pay, speaks volumes,"Dana Bernhardt, executive director of theEmmanuel at Brighton centre and a registered early childhood educator (ECE), said during the event.

"Child-care staff need to be prioritized to get a COVID-19 vaccine and in order to do that, Waterloo region needs more vaccines, more priority groups."

Risk of exposure higher

Bernhardt said the lack of prioritizingECEsfor vaccines puts workers and children at a higher risk of contracting and spreadingCOVID-19 to their families and colleagues.

She said the requirements to have 10 children or less in a cohortended in the fall of 2020, and though child-care centres haveextensive health and safety protocols in place, mosthave 15 to 24 children in a roomin addition tostaff.

"Educators don't feel like they deserve to be vaccinated ahead of other essential workers. That's not what this is about," said Bernhardt.

With more child-care centres offering emergency care for school-aged children ofessential workers, Bernhardt said she fears somecentres will have "no choice butto close" if staff refuse to work or become sick with COVID-19.

"If front-line workers such as doctors, EMS, grocery store staff or counsellors have children under the age of 10 and have no emergency child care available, they may not be able to go to work," she said.

The centre is also calling on the government to better compensateworkers, offer paid sick leaveand end the gender wage gap in the child-care sector.

"It has taken a global pandemic to highlight just how essential child care is to the economy and what a key element it is for economic recovery and growth," reada statement fromEmmanuel at Brighton on its Twitter and Facebook pages.

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Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife supported the call for child-care workers to be vaccinated sooner than is currently planned.

"Early childhood educators have been risking their health since the beginning of the pandemic," said Fife. "At every turn, the [Doug] Ford government has taken them for granted. ECE's are essential workers who deserve priority status for vaccinations."

She said child-care workers are amongother workers in the province who arenot guaranteed paid sick days.

"I support their action.They are literally fighting for their lives and protecting children in their care," said Fife.

Caitlin Clark, a spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce, said in an email that the province wants to get child care workers vaccinated "as soon as supply becomes available."

"Quite frankly we need more vaccines from our federal partners to deliver on this urgent imperative. I am pleased to confirm that every child care worker across Ontario that is 40 years of age or older, is now eligible to get vaccinated," Clark said.

"Minister Lecce has continued to advocate for the accelerated delivery of vaccines to all child care and education workers as soon as supply is available."