… they seem strangely attracted to unconventional 'cures' for Covid, including an animal dewormer called ivermectin.
Reflections, Observations, and Analyses Pertaining to the Canadian Political Scene
… they seem strangely attracted to unconventional 'cures' for Covid, including an animal dewormer called ivermectin.
Now that the City of Toronto has mandated vaccinations for all 37,000 of its employees, with limited exemptions, and the Toronto Transit Commission following suit, now seems to be a good time to explore what those exemptions might be.
The city will possibly allow religious exemptions. The only problem with that is, as far as I have been able to ascertain, no legitimate, established religions forbid vaccinations. Not Dutch Reformed. Not Jehovahs's Witnesses. Not Islam. Not Judiasm. End of story.
Unfortunately, so-called medical exemptions are a different story, judging by the American experience. Jeva Lange writes:
Medical exemptions have increasingly become the à la mode way for anti-vaxxers to deflect judgment and excuse themselves from mandatory vaccination requirements — even when doctors say there is almost never a well-founded reason to not get the safe and effective shot.
Art Krieg, an expert in immune disorders, was recently asked by Bloomberg if he could think of any health conditions that would disqualify someone from the COVID-19 shot: "Absolutely not," was his answer. "[T]here is no health condition where you should not get the vaccine." William "Andy" Nish, an allergy and immunology specialist, concurred: "[T]he risk of getting COVID-19 is so much higher and so much worse than the risks of getting the vaccine that it's just not even debatable," he told The American Journal of Managed Care. "It's just something that people need to do."
One notable exception would be people who had a severe allergic reaction to the first shot — which, of course, would require them to have gotten the initial shot to have discovered. Yet cases of anaphylaxis seem to only occur in about 5 in every million people vaccinated (and those who did have allergic reactions, meanwhile, responded positively to the use of an antihistamine, Bloomberg notes).
Unfortunately, medical fact never gets in the way of medical enablers.
… that hasn't stopped vaccine skeptics from seeking medical exemption letters — or sham doctors from writing them. "[A]n Oklahoma clinic said on Facebook that if an employer mandates vaccines, they can write a doctor's note exempting you from it if you qualify," reports Oklahoma's 4 News, going on to quote Dr. Dale Bratzler, the University of Oklahoma's Chief COVID-19 officer, who frets about such "exemption vouchers ... that are not based on any science."
Could such medical chicanery happen in Canada? Of that I have no doubt. In fact, it wouldn't even require an ethically-challenged medical practitioner to issue such an exemption. What if a person went to her or his doctor claiming that needles set off panic attacks owing to a traumatic experience? Would that not qualify for a medical exemption?
No one, of course, can compel people to submit to the needle. But their unwillingness to protect themselves and society at large from this deadly pandemic surely demands sanctions, right up to and including job dismissal if alternatives to working alongside of others cannot be found.
An abrogation of human rights? I don't think so, especially given their apparent disdain for the health and well-being of those around them.
UPDATE: There is an excellent article by an infectious disease physician in the L.A Times who has witnessed with a growing weariness far too many unvaccinated people die. Here are her concluding words:
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has mutated countless times during this pandemic, adapting to survive. Stacked up against a human race that has resisted change every step of the way — including wearing masks, social distancing, quarantining and now refusing lifesaving vaccines — it is easy to see who will win this war if human behavior fails to change quickly.
The most effective thing you can do to protect yourself, your loved ones and the world is to GET VACCINATED.
And it will work.
The PC government of Doug Ford has an interesting fund-raising scam scheme. It consists of sending an 'invoice' to people:
Some Ontario residents have received mail correspondence asking them to donate to the PC’s election campaign, however, the letters have been designed to appear as invoices.
Kingston resident Greg Gies received one such letter, instructing him that he owed $800 to the party.
“Just above the address box window, in red letters, it says ‘Important Invoice Enclosed,’ right under the Ontario PC identification on the upper left-hand side,” Gies told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday.
The envelope included the fake invoice, alongside a letter written by Ontario Fund chair Tony Miele, stating that the PCs are readying their "war chest" to continue the good work and the good fight and claiming that's why invoices have been sent out.
“[The body of the letter] mentions the word ‘invoice’ three times,” Gies said.
Gies said that, while he used to donate to the PCs, he hasn’t in nearly a decade, but assumes that his past donations are why he received the fake invoice.
“My first reaction was that it looked a lot like Trump's fundraising letters that we see going around on social media,” he said.
CTV's Colin D'Mello spoke to a woman who received this shameful mailing:
So far, no one in the Tory braintrust has addressed this scandal, but no doubt, after they put on their collective thinking caps, they will blame it on a 'rogue employee' or volunteer, despite the fact that it has the imprimatur of Tony Miele, Ontario Fund chair.
But then, their ilk always finds some "useful idiot" to blame, don't they?
UPDATE: I'm glad that's all cleared up. A 'third-party service provider' did it. From Sean O'Shea:
EXCLUSIVE Hallway interview with Chair of the Ontario PC Fund, Tony Miele. We staked out for 2.5 hours. Who approved the fake invoice marketing scheme? What misunderstanding? Who is losing their job? Here’s the raw interview.
There are more things that unite us than divide us. That is, if you are a raging Christian fundamentalist and the Taliban:
Hopefully, they will be returned to their enclosures post-haste:
The Liberal campaign is confronted by some protestors at a campaign stop in Coburg. They are yelling about freedom and vaccines as Trudeau speaks. There is swearing in this video.
I suspect the majority feel the same as this letter-writer:
I am disappointed with my fellow Canadians who choose not to get vaccinated, for various personal reasons each have expressed.
These individuals could be relatives, friends, neighbours, young and old and come from all walks of life, but even after conversations and education on the matter, they continue to hold strong against vaccination.
I have lost a brother to COVID-19 who was living in a nursing home in Toronto. Both my father in Toronto and father-in-law in Calgary, who were living in personal homes, died from COVID contracted from in-home health-care providers.
The government should mandate vaccinations for all Canadians, and if they do not have the political willpower to do this, then at least target the health-care sector who, by profession, are there to save lives and not endangering the sick and vulnerable.
If individuals choose not to get vaccinated, they should have to purchase a health insurance policy to cover costs if they get sick with COVID.
Why should fellow Canadians have to not only deal with the selfishness of individuals who choose not to be vaccinated, but have to pay for their misguided decisions as they fill up our hospitals and stress out are dedicated health care professionals?
Gordon Honkawa, Scarborough
Then there is this, from an Ontario resident:
COVID-19 is a fighter but unfortunately, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is not. Every time this virus lands a heavy blow, Ford hides in his corner, cowering.
He consistently refuses to listen to the epidemiologists, medical experts, experts of any kind. He does, however, listen to his far-right base, the one that bleats incoherently about personal liberty.
The fact is, people’s rights will be impacted. The question is who’s [sic]? Will it be the vast majority who made the choice to protect themselves, and their community, by following the science? Or will it be those who ignore the facts to make personal choice based solely on their own needs?
John Snider, Tottenham, Ont.
I guess the above describes what happens in a society led by political cowards, those who rule by fear of offending their traditional bases of support. I guess they haven't gotten the memo that when it comes to Covid-19, the tide has definitely turned.
Thank you for reading my letter.
Let me begin by saying that I had hoped to maintain a congratulatory tone throughout this missive. After all, you have done a very good job keeping us relatively safe during the extraordinary times we have undergone these past 17 months.
You delivered on the vaccine.
You delivered with CERB
You initiated badly-needed supports for businesses devastated by the pandemic.
You set a national example during our time of confinement.
You followed the Covid rules, isolating when required.
You showed your willingness to forsake tonsorial splendour.
You talked to us daily about the disease.
You wore a mask.
Essentially, you were a positive role model when the times demanded one.
You really had our backs.
But now, sadly, I must turn to the darker side of your soul, the political part demonstrating the grave dichotomy between your public persona and your deeper self.
What will so many people infer from your calling an unnecessary election during a fourth wave? Surely many will see it as a reckless, even ruthless, willingness to place your political hopes (a majority government) over the health and safety of your fellow citizens.
Consider this. A fourth wave of Covid is convulsing the nation. People, even the vaccinated, are contracting the Delta variant, said to be as contagious as chicken pox and deadlier than the original virus.
Your chief medical health officer, Teresa Tam, continues to advise extreme caution.
In Canada's most populous province, Ontario, growth of the virus is alarming, and has now reached a reproduction rate of 1.62, meaning, of course, that every 100 Covid cases causes an average of 162 infections.
Of course, you know all of this. And yet you are calling an election that will require millions of Canadians to congregate dangerously at polling stations, which brings me to another disturbing point about your recklessness. Presumably, the bulk of polling stations will be in their traditional locales, many of which are schools. Have you not considered the health risks you are inflicting on children trying to get back to a reasonable approximation of traditional learning?
There is more that I could say, but allow me to close by reiterating my disappointment in the path the media tell us you have chosen. It is a path that will serve only to deepen cynicism in an electorate that expects much better of you.