Canada has a Vaccine Shortage Problem, and Media Seem Reluctant to Place Blame Wear it Belongs
on Trudeau
NORTHERN, ONTARIO ~~~~~~ April 27, 2021 (LSN) Media and opposition party leaders such as the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh called for Ontario Premiere Doug Ford to resign last week, due to what they maintain is his failed COVID-19 response.
Ford started out strong, but as cases began to rise and no amount of measures, regardless of how stringent, seemed to stem the tide in the Greater Toronto area. A number of his critics, attributed this, somehow, to his reluctance to introduce a paid sick leave program, despite the fact the federal government has already done that.
As well, his critics seem to have forgotten that Ford pleaded with the same federal government to enforce tighter flight restrictions and screening and quarantine measures for international passengers arriving at Pearson Airport to prevent infected passengers from spreading the virus in the Toronto area. Those pleas fell on deaf ears for months, and when the federal government finally acted, it was too little too late. This is one of the reasons Ontario, particularly in the Toronto area, has been in some form of lockdown throughout the course of the pandemic, with the exception of a few months last summer.
We now face a third wave, further complicated by new variants of the virus. What went wrong? Ford was accused of not acting quickly to impose more restrictions much earlier to stem the tide of the third wave of COVID-19. Yet, when he did, he was roundly criticized for being too draconian, which caused him to walk back some of them, and apologize for his “mistake”. Yet, out in BC, Premier John Horgan is now introducing some similar measures to combat the third wave that has arrived in his province. He has closed BC borders to travellers from outside the province and restricted travel within the province. For example, residents of Vancouver Island are not allowed to leave the island, period. Restaurants have been closed to indoor dining, and group gatherings have been further restricted. Yet, we have heard no calls for his resignation for implementing measures too late or imposing too many restrictions?
Why is Doug Ford the target of such scrutiny? It would seem the mainstream media, only finds fault with how Conservative premiers have responded to the pandemic. Alberta Premier Jason Kenny, for example, has also been criticized, either for not doing enough or doing too much. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister was questioned for entering into a contract to produce vaccines within the province. Meanwhile, in Quebec, where Premier Francois Legault, has imposed some of the most stringent measures, including a curfew, which certainly infringes on personal rights and freedoms, yet he is seldom questioned for his actions by mainstream media.
National mainstream media’s obsession with provincial responses during this third wave, particularly in Ontario, is puzzling. The third wave arrived partially due to the federal government’s inaction on restricting international flights when it became aware of new variants in South Africa, Brazil, and the UK, that is rarely a topic of discussions by pundits on CBC or CTV. The main reason, however, is that while other countries such as the UK, Israel, and the USA launched aggressive immunization programs beginning as early as December of 2020, Canada did not nor, could it, because vaccines, in large numbers were not available. On December 13, media cheered as Canada received a paltry 30,000 doses of Pfizer Bio Tech vaccines, which was really only 15,000, because the vaccine requires two shots to be effective. In the coming months promises of more shipments were cancelled or delayed for various reasons. While Canada continued to await more shipments in January and February, many residents of the UK and USA had already received their second shots.
It is clear that, if the fault lies with anyone, for a huge surge of cases in this third wave, it is with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and he alone. Although unlike Premier Ford who actually apologized for his “mistakes” Trudeau refuses to acknowledge that he is responsible for Canada’s lack of vaccines. He is also responsible for the ongoing lockdowns that continue to cripple our economy, put added stress on a population has reached its breaking point, and may see more small businesses closing up shop for good.
So, why did we not have enough vaccines to begin our vaccine in program in December and January to stem the tide of the third wave, when countries like the UK and the US did? A lot of it has to do Trudeau’s unbelievable decision to enter into a partnership with China, and only China, to produce vaccines. The country responsible for the pandemic and lied about it and has be holding two Canadians hostage for coming up on 900 days. Not surprisingly the vaccine deal fell off the rails when China refused to send initial samples to Canada for testing. By the time the deal fell apart, Canada was late to the table in ordering vaccines from other suppliers—and sent to the back of the line.
In order to save face for his utter debacle, Trudeau had to beg, borrow and pay a much higher premium for vaccines but still there wasn’t enough. In most countries the cost of a single vaccine is around two or three dollars, but here it is eight. Trudeau also put Canada in the humiliating position of begging vaccines from COVAX the international stockpile of vaccines donated by G7 countries, like Canada, to enable poorer countries to immunize their populations. Yet still we came up short, so such so that health experts had to make the difficult decision to stretch out the length of time between the first and second dose of the vaccine (to obtain full immunity) from the recommended three to four weeks, to four months. This means that Canadians will still be wearing masks and social distancing and perhaps remain in some form of lockdown until the fall, and that’s only if, Trudeau can manage to get enough vaccines to ensure we all get our second shot in four months time, there are no guarantees there. Meanwhile countries like the UK and the US are beginning to reopen, because they have more than enough vaccine to go around.
As the leader of the country, during this pandemic, Trudeau really only had one really important job to do, and it wasn’t to throw money at everyone and anyone to buy votes and look like a hero. It was to secure an adequate supply of vaccines to protect the health of Canadians and he failed miserably. So much so that Manitoba, Premier Pallister is now partnering with North Dakota, which has surplus vaccines, to have cross-border workers, such as truck drivers, vaccinated (with both shots) on the other side of the border. Other western premiers, such as Scott Moe, in Saskatchewan are following suit. So again, given this complete and total fiasco, which it is safe to say has cost people’s lives and brought Canada’s health care system to the brink, why aren’t the media calling for Trudeau’s head?
Canadians should be furious with the situation, yet most are not. This wasn’t his first pandemic failure, just the most monumental. Trudeau and his obsession with political correctness put Canada way behind other countries in closing borders for fear of looking “racist”. His Health Ministers Patty Hajdu actually accused the Loyal Opposition of being “xenophobic” when they urged the government to close borders sooner. The Trudeau government also failed to introduce adequate and timely screening measures for international travellers at airports and its costly hotel quarantine program is a disaster. Other blunders range from sending 16 tons of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and
other supplies to China including free of charge, resulting in shortages in Canada and shutting down Health Canada’s early warning system designed to detect health threats early and develop plans to respond to them.
Then there is this one, as a new mutation began raging in India, again the Liberal government dragged its feet before finally restricting all flights from India for a month. Once again because it seemed more worried about appearing racist than protecting the health of Canadians. Too late, the India mutation is here, and it will stay here until a majority of Canadians are vaccinated, which we are assured will be by September but, given Trudeau’s track record, don’t hold your breath. It is clear that aggressive vaccine programs introduced in the UK and the USA (where many have been fully vaccinated) have been effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19, even with the new variants, while Canada continues to see a huge jump in cases.
These charts from Worldometre https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, which tracks COVID-19 cases world wide, make that abundantly clear
Note these charts from the UK and the US, illustrating the dramatic reduction of cases COVID-19, compared to Canada, largely due to their vaccine program.
Yet, mainstream media don’t seem very interested in using these charts to demonstrate the reality of Canada’s vaccine shortage. Despite what Trudeau says, Canada is way behind in its vaccination program and the situation will remain so for months. Yet, media keep making excited announcements about the arrival of new vaccines, missing the fact that it is again, too little too late. Now our vaccine shipments from India are in jeopardy due to the alarming spread of COVID in that country. So again, I ask why isn’t Trudeau being held to account the way provincial premiers are, particularly those who head up Conservative governments? The response to this pandemic should never have been political and partisan, but it is, and mainstream media hold some responsibility in that regard.
There should be no problem in determining the root cause of this situation and that is the inept manner in which the Liberal government has handled the pandemic from the beginning, yet media continue to let Trudeau skate while hanging leaders like Doug Ford out to dry. That, I believe, is the reason that Canadians aren’t furious with Trudeau, as they should be, they aren’t getting the facts they should from mainstream media. For example in my experience most Canadians are unaware of the China deal that fell threw. In fact, most polls indicate that if an election were held tomorrow Trudeau would be elected again, and the reason is mainstream media mysteriously refuse to hold him to account.
By: Roxanne Halverson
Former TBT anchor and reporter
Living in Ottawa (retired RCMP Senior Emergency Management Planner
Northern Ontario
Kenora, Rainy River, Dryden, Thunder Bay, Terrace Bay Marathon, Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Ontario
#LSN_Health
By: Roxanne Halverson
Former TBT anchor and reporter
Living in Ottawa (retired RCMP Senior Emergency Management Planner
Northern Ontario
Kenora, Rainy River, Dryden, Thunder Bay, Terrace Bay Marathon, Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Ontario