So many Canadians are saying “that’s enough”. If you’re unvaccinated and have to be hospitalized because of Covid, and you take the bed of someone who needs urgent care, then that unvaccinated should not be given priority, or should pay for at least some part of their hospital treatment. There are no statistics because so often the silent majority does not speak out. But I am hearing it more and more.
It’s true that vaccinated individuals continue to have a relevant role in transmission. But it is also true that “large numbers of unvaccinated people do make variants more likely”. Yes, vaccinated do get the variant Omicron, and can spread it, albeit hospital stays are shorter. But the bottom line that epidemiologists will agree, we are all at risk so long as so many everywhere in the world remain unvaccinated.
Our health care system is cracked, and broken in some hospitals. Political leaders like Legault, Trudeau, Ford, and the rest, have to make the unpopular, difficult choices for the sake and survival of our workers and our system.
That does not mean use of hateful and divisive language by Justin Trudeau “They are extremists who don’t believe in science, they’re often misogynists, also often racists “. Where is the leadership, the inclusion Trudeau talks about? This is not Canadian.
Four thousand died in five months last year waiting for non-Covid hospital admission (Canadian Medical Association). In Quebec, half the scheduled surgeries are cancelled across our hospital network. Ontario puts it more into perspective with “8,000 to 10,000 surgeries cancelled per week”.
Talk to Pierrefonds’ Francois Shalom who’s heart valve surgery has been postponed, talk to the cancer patient who can’t get his chemo treatment, how about the person who has sleepless nights because of excruciating back or knee pain awaiting surgery. You’ll have to cool your heels, and maybe die waiting, because some unvaccinated, shouting “it’s about civil liberties”, is taking your place. They have made the choice not to be vaccinated, and so you are denied health care. Especially to those waiting, it’s selfishness, not fair, and to many, morally wrong.
We had a shortage of masks, shortage of ventilators, now it’s a shortage of staff. Our health folks should not be forced to work double and triple shifts, not be forced to quit or not show up because of stress, burn out, or just plain being fed up. These are special people who care, who see patients and family members, not numbers. They have reached the end.
As in Greece, Italy, France, Austria and others, Canada too, depending on the province, could adopt a policy of mandatory vaccination. Human Rights violation, a cover up for political incompetence you say? This is what it has come to.
You may not agree, and I’m not comfortable with it either. Politicians are at fault for allowing our Health Care system to crumble with no improvement during this two-year-old pandemic. Covid is winning, our leaders have lost control and are giving up. The western countries are at fault for selfishly hanging on to vaccines, jabbing its population three times, while poorer countries’ have none. (According to Bloomberg, western nations have 1.2 billion extra vaccines). You might also argue that Big Pharma is at fault for greedily refusing to free its vaccine patents. All are legitimate concerns.
There is a bright spot. The story reminded me of Volvo’s 1959 invention of the three-point safety belt. Volvo relinquished its patent and for the sake of drivers’ and passengers’ safety worldwide, allowed any and all automakers to use its invention, free. How rare is that! That V shaped safety belt design, invented by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin, (he should have been awarded Time’s ‘person of the year’) continues to save millions of lives.
And now, somewhat of a miracle happened at the Houston Children’s Hospital in conjunction with a local college. A patent free Covid vaccine! The hero is Dr Peter Hotez whose team developed a vaccine to share with the world without personal profit. Instead of Pfizer, Moderna, and the other Big Pharma’s patent protected vaccines, for a huge profit, Dr Hotez is providing an “open-source alternative” that could be manufactured around the world, cheaply available, and 90% effective.
What’s the motivation? The strong belief and documented evidence by Dr Hotez and his team that “the reason Delta and Omicron arose is because we allowed large unvaccinated populations to go unvaccinated”. It can not be clearer than that.
Notes:
CBC producer Tara Henley quits the tax payer-based broadcaster because CBC’s radical left wing political agenda has replaced fair and balanced news reporting. Talk of a capital gains tax (Home Equity Tax) on your principal residence is getting louder. Pierre Poilievre coins the phrase “justin-flation”.
That’s what I’m Thinking.
Robert Vairo
robert@newsfirst.ca
