Quebec plans to impose additional tax on non-vaccinated people against Covid

The COVID-19 vaccination center at the Montreal Olympic Stadium in Quebec, Canada (Credit: REUTERS/Christinne Muschi)

Pour Ismail Shakeel and Anna Mahler Baberni

(Reuters) – The Canadian province of Quebec, the country’s second most populous province, plans to force adults who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to pay a “health contribution,” a move likely to spur debate over rights. Individuals and social responsibility.

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Canadian Prime Minister Francois Legault told reporters in an interview on Tuesday that the proposal, details of which are still being finalised, would not apply to those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.

Unvaccinated people are harming others, Legault said, and the province’s Department of Finance is setting a “significant” amount for unvaccinated residents to pay, adding that that amount will be at least C$100 ($79.50).

Governments around the world have restricted the movement of the unvaccinated, but a blanket tax on all unvaccinated adults could be a rare and controversial measure.

While such a tax might be justified in the context of a health emergency, surviving a potential court challenge will depend on the details, said Caroline Eels, a professor of medicine and health sciences at McGill University.

But Ailes expressed surprise that the government is taking such a “dramatic” step now, when options such as expanding vaccine mandates remain.

Provinces across Canada are facing a massive spike in Covid-19 cases that has forced tens of thousands of people into isolation and overburdened the health care system.

The highly transmissible micron variant has made the spread difficult to contain, and health experts have stressed the importance of double or triple vaccines.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakeel in Bengaluru and Anna Mahler Baberni in Toronto)