Why vaccines are important

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/02/2021 (1662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Congratulations to those Manitobans aged 95 and over because, thanks to the diligent work of our provincial leaders, we are now able to inoculate you against the dreaded COVID-19 coronavirus.

Everyone else? Wait your turn.

This week Dr. Joss Reimer advised Manitobans that “I’m personally very excited that we’re expanding into the general population, and I’m looking forward to decreasing the age of eligibility over time.”

We are going to be receiving more vaccine doses – 15,000 Pfizer doses weekly, up from the current 12,000. At this rate, we should have Manitoba inoculated sometime in the summer of 2022.

I don’t want to say Manitoba in specific, and Canada in general, lacks flexibility, ambition and innovation, but I think the numbers speak for themselves.

Canada has vaccinated roughly 4 percent of its population. In this, we rank behind Singapore, Netherlands, and dozens of other industrialized countries. Israel has vaccinated almost 85 percent of its population while the United States has vaccinated roughly 20 percent. We are ahead of Croatia, Brazil and Latvia if you seek comfort.

Premier Pallister has repeatedly blamed Prime Minister Trudeau and the Federal Government for failing to deliver enough vaccine doses to Manitoba. He is correct in this assertion. Trudeau has done an absolutely dreadful job of delivering on his first responsibility – protecting the safety of Canadians.

Does anyone recall Trudeau’s preening early this Fall about having secured 358 million vaccine doses?

“We are coming at this from every angle,” Trudeau said back in October, after the Government released news that it had signed contracts to acquire vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer and more.

That was on Oct. 23, 2020.

As I write this, on Feb. 25, 2021, slightly less than 1.7 million vaccine doses have been administered Canada-wide. That’s not exactly something to brag about.

Have we done a good job in Manitoba vaccinating?

The medical professionals getting needles into arms are heroes. They are getting as many vaccine shots in Manitobans as possible. The leaders at the top – well, their remarkable unpopularity underscores their performance.

Think about it this way – As of Wednesday, Manitoba had received approximately 102,000 vaccine doses. At the same time, 67.5 percent — 69,000 — of these doses had been administered. The only province trailing us in vaccine utilization is Nova Scotia.

Those are facts.

Why is this an issue? Why do I care?

Well, this will continue to be the dominant story for one simple reason, maybe two. First, people keep dying from COVID, and secondly, our economy cannot reopen fully until we reach herd immunity.

There are so many COVID implications to literally everything a government does.

How many more counsellors do we need in a school division? After all, kids are facing untold challenges between interruptions in their normal schedules; parents being unemployed, etc.

What do government tax collections look like? So many businesses are running below capacity due to COVID.

How many healthcare areas are being underfunded as a result of the understandable focus on COVID?

In other words, COVID touches every part of our economy. We need to get vaccinated to save lives and get people back to normal. It is all interconnected, and right now, we are underperforming.