Sarnia-Lambton's acting medical officer of health wants the county to adopt a COVID immunization policy for staff and councillors.
Dr. Christopher Greensmith made the comment during County Council's regular meeting Tuesday morning.
"I'm strongly recommending that the County of Lambton adopt a COVID-19 immunization policy that would apply to staff, and to councillors actually, as this would help compliment overall safety standards for the community."
Greensmith said councillors and staff need to set an example for the rest of the community.
He added that the health unit is trying to move the vaccination rate up from the roughly 78 per cent of adults who've had at least one dose to over 90 per cent.
"Now we need to move on a bit more. There's a section of the population of around 10 per cent that will never get vaccinated, but there are some that are undecided. So, we're just trying to move them along," said Greensmith. "You have individual rights, but you don't have rights to infect other people. So, if we can move up that vaccination rate by all of these different strategies, we hopefully can avoid future lockdowns, deaths, hospitalizations and serious long-term comorbidities."
Greensmith said he expects vaccination rates to increase with the implementation of a provincial proof of vaccination system.
"If you're going to get tested every week, that's not something that people really like to enjoy... not that we're trying to punish them, but it's uncomfortable, and if you can get vaccinated, you avoid that and you're also protected."
Councillor Mike Stark agreed with Greensmith's recommendation.
"I personally am a strong advocate for vaccine passports, and in fact, I appreciated your comment as it relates to the collective rights outweigh the individual rights when it comes to public health."
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said county council, and city council, should adopt the policy as separate groups, not as part of the staff policy.
"We are two separate groups and we are not employees of the county. And it's more of a technical issue, but I think that administration in my view can move forward and adopt the policy now -- that's part of their responsibility as an administration -- and we can certainly adopt, as a council, what [Dr. Greensmith] is recommending once we get the details in the weeks ahead."
As of September 1, Sarnia-Lambton adults with at least one dose represent 78.3 per cent of the eligible population, up from 77.7 per cent last week. Fully vaccinated adults now make up 73.2 per cent of the eligible population, up from 72.3 per cent.