Windsor cemetery removes COVID-19 vaccination sign after controversy

Windsor, Ont. -

A sign about COVID-19 vaccination has been removed at a Windsor cemetery after it sparked controversy.

The Windsor Memorial Gardens sign read "Not vaccinated yet? You may be here soon."

General manager Ed Shabsove says he posted the message on Wednesday.

“I heard that 98 per cent of the people in Toronto hospital with COVID are not vaccinated so I thought well you know what maybe if I put something out on the sign people will read it and maybe they’ll decide to get vaccinated.”

Pictures of the sign began circulating on social media and by Friday night Shabsove says the cemetery started to get emails and calls – both positive and negative.

One commenter posted on Facebook: “Thank you this needed to be said unfortunately. But as you see not even harsh reality will wake them up.”

Another posted “This is the most appalling, unprofessional and in absolute poor taste thing I would ever expect to see on a cemetery’s signage.”

Shabsove says he was surprised from the response to the sign.

“It wasn’t put on there for political, it wasn’t put on there for cemetery gain,” he added. “It was put on there for information.”

Windsor Regional Hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Wassim Saad couldn’t comment on the sign specifically, but says there is a lot of vaccine misinformation online.

“It does become frustrating because it’s hard to fight science with social media,” says Saad. “I’d rather use social media to advance science and get the appropriate message and the correct message to as many people as possible.”

Saad says COVID vaccines do reduce the risk of death.

“If you are vaccinated you are three times less likely to transmit the virus to anybody else and 10 times less likely to die from COVID,” says Saad.

Shabsove says they are a local, non-profit organization that did not mean to offend anyone, so he decided to remove the sign. He still hopes the message got across.

“If one person sees it and gets vaccinated, I guess the sign was worth it,” says Shabsove.