Alberta Health Services (AHS) will rescind its mandatory vaccination policy for staff as of Thursday, March 10 at 4 p.m.

Health minister Jason Copping says the pandemic has shown more beds, more staff and more resiliency is needed at health care facilities to deal with any future crisis.

The government has already budgeted $300-million for ICU beds across Alberta and AHS is working to recruit and train the staff that will be needed to operate these new beds.

Copping says that the need for staff is why he's directed AHS to drop its mandate.

"This directive covers employees of AHS, its subsidiaries and Covenant Health employees, members of the medical and midwifery staff, students and instructors, volunteers and applicable contracted service providers including those working on AHS sites and separate providers working under contract," Copping says. "As of 4 p.m. AHS will no longer require currently unvaccinated employees to do mandatory rapid testing."

The health minister explained that those workers who took a leave of absence due to their immunization status should work with their managers to determine their return date.

Starting Monday, March 14, youth aged 12 to 17 who've had their second vaccination at least five months ago can sign up for a booster shot.

They can do so by calling 811.