I can’t believe how quickly the tides turned on the handling of the coronavirus here in the US. I spent so much of last year looking at other countries and the measures they were taking to contain the virus. With our numbers climbing and the walls closing in around us, it felt like we were the only nation whose government left us out to dry. Now that we have an administration which is backing science and exceeding its pledge to vaccinate as many citizens as possible, I stopped paying so much attention to everyone else. It turns out, our neighbors in Canada are feeling the squeeze as they sit on a meager 2% vaccination rate. And folks are wondering who’s to blame.
After a bumpy start, Canada’s vaccination rollout has picked up pace in recent weeks. Still, the sight of the United States — a neighbor with which the country frequently compares itself — awash in vaccines and racing ahead to inoculate the population is fueling frustration.
Ontario, Canada’s most-populous province, is also among its hardest-hit. Cases have blown past a January peak. Its intensive care units are under such strain that children’s hospitals are admitting adults.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has blamed the current surge in cases and hospitalizations on the federal government, which he says has failed to procure enough vaccines. His lockdown measures, meanwhile, have provoked an angry backlash across the province. Infectious-disease experts accuse him of easing restrictions prematurely, against their advice.
The global vaccine rollout has been defined by inequity.
High-income countries, which account for just 16 percent of the world population, have locked up more than 50 percent of near-term supply, according to researchers at Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center.
Canada has reserved access to more than enough doses for its population, striking advance purchase agreements with multiple pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and Moderna. But it has struggled to get actual vaccines.
A key problem is that Canada, unlike the United States, has limited domestic capacity to make coronavirus vaccines. For now it’s relying entirely on deliveries from manufacturers abroad.
A severe global supply crunch, unexpected manufacturing delays, poor communication about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine from officials at all levels of government and contracts that put the delivery of most doses in the second and third quarters of this year have hindered the rollout.
The gap in the fully vaccinated is stark: 25 percent of Americans vs. just over 2 percent of Canadians. Canada is stretching the interval between first and second doses to at least four months to get a first dose into as many people as possible more quickly.
Some here wonder why the United States — which, like Canada, has secured hundreds of millions more doses than it needs — isn’t doing more to share.
“It doesn’t help that our best friend and neighbor did not give us any vaccine,” said Isaac Bogoch, an infectious-disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital.
Nor does it make much sense, he said, that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being produced in Michigan, but Canada’s doses are coming from Europe.
“I can shoot a hockey puck from Ontario and hit Kalamazoo, yet our Pfizer is coming from Belgium,” Bogoch said. “I mean, we love you, but help a brother or sister out.”
The Biden administration announced last month that it would “loan” Canada 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has not yet been authorized in the United States. There are tens of millions more doses in its inventory.
I can see why Canadians are so frustrated. It’s difficult to figure out why this is happening. And the fact that the vaccination rollout is going smoother in the US is compounding the issue. The article talks a little more about Doug Ford’s lockdown measures and why people are so upset about them. He’s done things like closed schools but left businesses open. He also closed outdoor playgrounds, even though studies showed they were safe. Then he tried to deflect blame to the federal government for not getting enough vaccines. But according to this article, Canada did procure enough, they just can’t get them.
They interviewed a few people who had watched their dual citizen neighbors drive over to Michigan to get vaccinated. I can see how that would be disheartening. I’m unclear on what the US can actually do, though. The AstraZeneca solution is a good one. I’d like to think we are doing everything we can.
Our thought are with our Northern neighbors. I had no idea their hospitals were spilling over into the children’s hospitals. Whatever is going on politically, I hope Canada’s order arrives and that 2% grows very soon.
Photo credit: Instagram and Getty Images
Ontario has now ordered the cancellation of all non-emergency medical procedures at hospitals. The Canada-US border is closed INDEFINITELY. I had hoped to be able to go see my mom in Quebec this Christmas, but we have no idea what things with look like. My mom and stepdad got their first Pfizer shot, but they have a 4-month wait for the second, so we question how protected they’ll actually be.
Izzy, I live in Quebec and things here aren’t quite as bad as in Ontario. Yes there’s still a curfew, restaurants are closed, indoor gatherings are pretty much a no-go, and obviously we have variants too, but we’ve vaccinated about 25% of the population (albeit one dose, for most of them) and supposedly everyone who wants a shot will have one by the end of June.
Your parents will hopefully get their second dose well before Christmas – my mom got her first one in early March, her second is scheduled for the end of June – so I would hope you’d be okay to visit. I’m sending you a virtual hug in the meantime, I know it’s tough.
Legault is an example of how the provincial actions really matter in terms of handling this pandemic. At one point Quebec had higher numbers than Ontario but they have managed to contain the numbers much better. My understanding is that Quebec is also still doing contact tracing which ontario has given up essentially.
That is so frustrating, but studies have shown that even a single shot of the Pfizer vaccine is highly, highly effective. They’ve looked at real world results in multiple countries and they all show the same. A four month delay is not ideal, but they are very protected from that single dose!
The US
https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-vaccines-int-idUSKBN2BL2UW
Israel
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/19/israeli-study-finds-pfizer-vaccine-85-effective-after-first-shot
UK
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/02/22/pfizer-vaccine-highly-effective-after-just-one-dose-uk-early-data-suggest/?sh=3746d8ea2b04
What a difference it makes to be a producer of a vaccine. The states are really lucky to have this capacity or I cant even imagine what the future would have been. I’m in Quebec and we were the worst before it got better for us. I hope we can contain it. And we also have the states to thank because some canadians are getting vaccinated in florida, while they were vacationing and those people, retirees, are more at risk.
This story is NOT accurate. 26% of the Canadian population has received one dose of vaccination. The Canadian health minister JUST stated this today. Washington Post is NOT correct. Can uou update this story?
Exactly. And the Ontario government had 1 million vaccines sitting in freezers without distributing them.
First dose is not fully vaccinated.
Yeah – I’m in Ontario and we have a 4 month wait between 1st and second doses. I’m getting my first this week (40-50 year old range). The booking system is a cluster duck – you basically have to go through every pharmacies site trying to find a booking slot. There are ‘vaccine hunter’ twitter streams but they keep putting out inaccurate info which isn’t helping the frustration.
Honestly most of the spread is essential workers – things like amazon warehouse workers. The killer is that there is no provincial sick leave so people keep working when mildly sick or exposed as they can’t afford to miss days off work. (they can apply for post dated federal sick leave, but not much help to pay the rent that month). It’s so dire.
Can we get them some Pfizer’s from Michigan? I have been puzzled about this as well. We should be lending a hand here, IMO. I was so ashamed to be American during the Trump years, miserable. And I envied Canadians. But now we have Biden and we are so privileged again, we need to assist our neighbors.
No, because President Biden hasn’t lifted Trump’s ban on export of vaccines.
Biden has actually spoken to Trudeau and said he plans to send Canada vaccines but an amount and date have not yet been confirmed. I live in BC and just got my first Pfizer jab last week but have to wait until August for the second. We live in hope…
It isn’t a matter of Biden “lifting” anything.
Trump signed legal contracts with the vaccine manufacturers that specifically prohibited America sharing any excess vaccine doses we might have.
He managed to find a way around that to send Canada a little over a million doses of AZ a while back, but renegotiating (or finding a loop hole) in the contracts Trump signed will, unfortunately, take time.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/04/why-the-us-still-cant-donate-covid-19-vaccines-to-countries-in-need
I live in Michigan with my family and we were all given Moderna vaccines. Which is weird because we basically live down the street from the Pfizer factory.
I agree. We should share. I’ve been volunteering with a service group getting people vaccinated since mid February. It was incredibly difficult in February and March to get appointments. It involved staying up to 1 am and waking up at 5 am. Now, suddenly, there is more than enough vaccine to go around. I think we should push hard to get the vaccine hesitant vaccinated and share our surplus.
Michigan and Ontario interact a lot in terms of commerce and so Biden really needs to open that up. Michigan itself has a surge issue despite higher levels of vaccination than ontario and so we know that vaccination alone isn’t going to stop this third wave.
I live in Michigan and our governor requested extra vaccine because of our by far worst in the country surge. The federal government rebuked the request because they aren’t holding anything back and weren’t going to take from another state. Right now while demand is greater than supply I think it is a political non-starter, but supply should start outpacing demand in the coming weeks.
100% agree. If we don’t share (or help Canada get the doses they need), we are exactly the nation that Trump tried to make us into: selfish, isolationist, greedy.
The US government announced in March they were planning to give doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada and Mexico.
Now, people can make the case that we should be doing more, but I think that puts Biden in a tough spot. The US is vaccinating at a rapid rate, but we are still far too low for herd immunity. We can’t slow down or stop, especially when the virus mutates quickly and states are already trying to reopen.
I feel for Canada, and I hope that once the US reaches a majority vaccination rate, we can send more vaccines across the border. But I also think the AstraZeneca vaccine was a smart compromise for now, since Americans can’t use it anyway.
Canadian here (who lives in one of the Ontario hotspots) – honestly, I understand why the US isn’t sharing yet. Your population is like 10x the size of ours and you’re not fully vaccinated yet. It would be nice if you could share, but it’s more nuanced than that. I’m sure as you have more vaccinated people, the surplus will be sent elsewhere, including Canada. But I hope that this is an eye opener for our leaders – we need to develop our own infrastructure better and not be so dependent on other nations.
Anners, that is incredibly gracious of you. I live in LA, where things are just really starting to turn around (fingers crossed, it lasts), after well over a year of hard lockdowns. The elementary schools have just started going back, but middle and high schools are still closed (at least around my house), with no actual hope of reopening for this school year.
ETA: I have been incredibly fortunate, my son goes to a tiny private school, that was able to safely reopen at the end of February, because it is attached to a church, that hasn’t been able to reopen. The already tiny school has been able to spread out all over both the church and school, making the level of social distancing almost comical, but that’s just me getting lucky. My local elementary went back to half days, on Monday of this week.
It’s been bizarre, watching other parts of the country where people aren’t even required to wear masks. One of the states where I grew up didn’t even close their schools for ONE day, much less over one year. It’s an absolute mind eff, how this entire experience has varied so widely, even within the US. I’ve been having a lot of feelings about it.
Biden has said he is willing to help Canada now that most Americans have been offered the vaccine. However, he is going to give us Astrazeneca (the vaccine not approved in America yet).
It’s not a global supply crunch. What has gone under the radar is that Biden seconded ALL of Canada’s PURCHASED Pfizer doses in January the day after he was sworn in. Pfizer had to scramble to start supplying Canada from Belgium. This is all on the US.
OMG I had no idea. Well, this helps clarify things. Plus as the US is Canada’s largest trading partner, Trudeau can’t say anything. That’s just dirty.
Hey Ashley, would you link an article/source? Thanks in advance.
Yep. Biden is no better for Canada than Trump was. There are millions of Astrazeneca vaccines that US won’t deign to use but also won’t deign to release to Canada. It isn’t as if we are asking for freebies. F. Biden.
Canadians should always remember than no matter the president, the US always looks out for itself first. Trump was just more obvious about it, but we can point to things that Obama did as well, especially the softwood lumber trade issue, that shows we are friends only when it is convenient.
As a Canadian I thank you for your sweet comment Darla!
The politicians may forget it or not acknowledge it but most Yanks view Canadians as our very valued next door neighbor.
Thank you for your comment. I too hated that you had Trump, I am so glad you have Biden, he has shown to be a good man and leader. I have had one vaccine, wish they were rolling out faster for the 2nd.
I cannot blame Biden for trying to vaccinate as many Americans as possible first, then promising aid to other countries.
I don’t know if it’s a numbers problem or what, but the same thing is happening here in France where it feels like a small fraction of the population has been vaccinated, we’re doing the 64th “lockdown” in over a year without any hope in sight for the younger generations.
My parents are in Georgia and have both received the first and second dose of the vaccine…So I’m trying to figure out when France is going to decide to either handle lockdown like professionals or handle the vaccine rollout like professionals because they’ve been bumbling both for months now.
Thank you Darla for saying this! Obvs it sucked bigtime being American under Trump, and it was pretty crappy being Canadian too. We have been important allies for many years and even thru the sh*tstorm of POTUS 45 – e.g., got into a foreign affairs mess with China over Huawei to help the U.S., and BTW Canadian citizens are still falsely imprisoned in China as retribution right now. But U.S. makes so much vaccine and none to share with Canada? Honestly I’ve had enough, I hope we grow a spine in Canada and stand up to the U.S. the next time the government wants our help. SBT.
The decision was made in Canada to get everyone their first dose before giving anyone their second. It’s a distribution decision. I’m not frustrated, I’m delighted my mom and I have both had ours. Hope my hubbie and child can get theirs soon.
Our pharmacist said that there are plenty of not-yet-peer-reviewed papers/studies circulating behind the scenes that suggest you’re somewhere in the 80-90% protected range 2 weeks after the first dose (and also that you can delay the second dose without compromising that ultimate 95% protection). I’m sure it’s so frustrating, but it’s absolutely an understandable tactic!
I posted some links up thread about the studies they’ve done. (I went down the rabbit hole after I had my first dose and was feeling very anxious to get my second.) Your pharmacist is right, a single dose is highly protective and effective.
@Kay: The links Kebbie posted refer to the mRNA vaccines commonly used in the US, and what the pharmacist said probably refers to those as well.
Some Canadians are receiving those too, but lots are getting the AstraZeneca shot, and its efficacy is not as high. Even after two doses, studies and (reputable) articles I’ve seen show, after two doses, anywhere from 67% to 81% efficacy (the latter the result of one study when the two doses were given 12 weeks apart), so there is no ultimate 95% protection there. In a US study AZ claimed 76% efficacy against symptomatic covid after two doses. Also, all of the vaccines are less effective against the variants.
So while what you say may be – excluding variants – true for people who got Pfizer, it won’t apply everyone in Canada. I’m seeing Americans online feeling very confident that after two shots normal life will resume, and even there it’s probably over-optimistic, given that some people won’t get the shot, and that the shot may not be as effective against the variants. But if you have AZ it’s hard to feel as confident, whether after one shot or two.
@Totorochan Yes, my links were specifically for the Pfizer vaccine
@Totorochan those efficacy numbers are about your risk of catching COVID. All four vaccines approved in Canada all have the efficacy in preventing moderate or severe illness from COVID. It’s actually part of the problem here in Ontario – you couldn’t GIVE AWAY AstraZeneca to the 55+ population who was eligible for it, so many were holding out to get the ‘good’ vaccines… mean while at risk, racialization and lower income essential workers have been waiting on the sidelines, happy to take whatever was offered to them.
Yes so that 2% number is the number who’ve had both doses. They stopped giving second doses a while ago until everyone has had the first. So the comparison is a bit deceptive. It’s still disheartening but the comparison is somewhat misleading.
It’s bad. My theory on Justin Trudeau is he’s corrupt (there have been many scandals) but when push comes to shove he often has very good plans and outcomes. (And there has not been a better candidate from any party, low population equals fewer candidates.) I respect his approach to trump, and his approach to China is not bad lately. Huge fail for the pandemic. Not only this vaccine issue but he gave pandemic bailouts from taxpayers to very large corporations who then laid off many and took bonuses. That’s either an inexplicable fail or corruption. You have to be quite elderly , indigenous on a reserve (because they are far from hospitals) work in health care or in B.C. be a sex worker to have access to vaccines. I may have missed a group or two who can get a vaccine, feel free to correct me. In my parents’ community my dad, 77, doesn’t have access yet.
Whatever Trudeau’s failings are, the problem is we are not getting the vaccines that are promised to us. He took quick action and ordered more than enough early on —earlier than a lot of other countries. This is not his fault. My feeling is because we are a relatively small country in terms of population, Pfizer and Moderna would rather appease European countries and US and let us flounder. Pfizer actually tried to blackmail us into some sort of future tax break – I think it was if they set up shop in Canada, I can’t remember. Don’t know if the shortage is related to that somehow, or if they were promised anything.
Also, Doug Ford is an idiot like his brother. But I also feel like some of the provinces have not been strict enough and Covid has gotten out of control. They try to appease everyone instead of doing their job and stopping the spread of the virus.
right on Golly Gee, I agree with your take on this situation. I should be able to get an Astra Zeneca shot in a few days. It’s not my favourite choice at this point but I’m being recalled to my public transportation job next week and i need some protection.
Doug Ford is an idiot and I hope everyone remembers at the next election. He’s being missing in action for the last week. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard on the news that the excuse is he can’t figure out how to use a laptop while he’s in quarantine. huh he’s the premier
Trudeau failed, maybe not with the vaccine but with the spread. the provinces also failed, it seemed like things were « as good as possible » to some probably, only because trump was the next door comparison. Now we can see it was so poorly handled
Trudeau has failed by not shutting down international travel. we have 36,000 travelers a week come in and 1,2% are infected with covid and are not quarantined for 14 days/ thats a huge issue with this 3rd wave. and Ford is a poor excuse for a premier, embarrassing actually IMO
The Ontario disaster has everything to do with former high school hash dealer Doug Ford not listening to the science table in February when they forecasted a disaster in the modelling and so they sat and did nothing until a few weeks ago when the situation got even worse. This is a provincial issue because not all provinces are a mess. Some like the Atlantic provinces did a real lockdown and others like Ontario kept businesses open and didn’t inspect or enforce anything so now the largest transmission area are workplaces.
As it is Ford has been a coward and forced the head doctors of each public health unit in the province to make hard decisions because he fails too. Even now only Peel and Toronto have a public health order to shut down businesses with over 5 cases of covid but nowhere else. This needed to be enforced across the province.
And let’s talk about Amazon lobbyists like former Harper advisor Kory Tenecke who has direct access to Ford since they are all conservatives and so Amazon has gotten away with letting hundreds of their employees get infected without real action.
Ford is running this like Trump lite because he’s been corrupt from day one and has no idea what he is doing.
Agree 100% Nic919!
The other thing too is that the Red Cross reached out to Ford to ask if he wanted them to come help in Ontario and he turned them down!!!
Everybody listen to Nic919. I live in Ontario and she’s right about everything.
Mr. Who and I got our 1st doses and feel pretty sure we’ll get our 2nd in a timely manner. We are privileged in being able to work from home. For us, deferred health care is the problem.
@Nic919, Ms. Who & Keroppi – Misery loves company and it is comforting for me to know that the USA is not the only home to nests of bat-shit crazy corrupt ineffectual politicians.
Rob Ford, his crackhead brother, was the mayor of Toronto and a precursor to the trump stupidity. Daniel Dale first got a name covering the stupid lies we heard from Toronto city hall.
American living in Toronto here. Doug Ford REFUSED Trudeau’s offer for Red Cross helping distributing vaccines. We sit on 500k-1million per week when we get the new shipment in(look at the national Canadian vaccine tracker).
that’s not quite accurate about access to vaccines, all of my family members 55+ I believe have had their first doses.
It’s now lowered to 40+ at least for the AZ vaccines in the pharmacies. Problem is that the system to get a vaccine at the pharmacies is a mess. You need to get on multiple waiting lists all over and they don’t always contact you.
If Florida. the Florida Department of Health is doing max vaccination at old airport hangars and old airport terminals or anywhere else that has massive not-in-use parking for cars. You can get a vaccine at your local CVS or Walgreens but it takes much longer to get an appointment. Most PCPs in my metro-area of Florida are not vaccinating people unless their medical practice is limited to Geriatrics.
I get my second does on Monday 03 May 2021 at a vacated old Sears store.
In Alberta, anyone 40+ can book in for a vaccine. I believe most people will be getting the Astra Zennica shot right now. I have underlying health issues and got my shot of Pfizer last week. I’m not sure about other provinces, but booking my shot (and now assisting friends in booking their shots) was super easy going through the Alberta Health Services website. No calling around to pharmacies, or anything like that.
Ontario failed so hard with the stupid vaccine at pharmacies system. It should be one site for the province. Or at the very least for the public health unit.
The problem now though is that most of us under the age of 65 who got the Astra Zeneca vaccine now have to wait until President Biden releases more of the AZ that’s being warehoused in the US. The Serum Institute of India where we got our first batch of AZ from has now decided all doses manufactured there will remain in India (and with 300,000+ cases daily who can blame them), so we’re hooped for our second dose until the US lets us buy our AZ doses from US manufacturing sites.
I don’t think it’s bad. I think it’s been going really well, actually.
Canada has one of the lowest rates in the G20 and one of the highest vaccination rates so far – we’re ahead of Germany and Norway in terms of vaccination, and those countries are wealthier.
Vaccination appointments are now open to anyone over 50 across Canada, and anyone over 40 in hotspots.
I don’t think that’s bad at all. I think Trudeau is doing an amazing job.
I don’t know where you’re getting your info but Canada has actually surpassed the US in covid cases per million. We’re going through a horrendous third wave which is being led by variants that are far more contagious and lethal than the original. We don’t have enough vaccines to get people in all age groups and high risk professions vaccinated. Our ICU’s are becoming dangerously overloaded with staff burnouts at a record high. Vaccination appointments are open but the majority of pharmacies are running out of doses in less than a day. Trudeau is not doing an amazing job. Helping pharma companies to start development of vaccines in Canada should have been one of his top priorities considering the panic we went through with SARS and H1N1 and the warnings from health experts that the next pandemic would probably be the big one. Trudeau should have shut off travel from China immediately. This has been a slow, cumbersome and altogether ham-fisted process and the task force he brought together has failed. Trudeau should have tasked the Ministry of Long Term care to tighten up staffing and visiting regulations ASAP, but instead allowed understaffed and untrained workers to move from facility to facility, bringing covid into seniors homes that infected and killed thousands of our senior citizens. There are many things I like about Trudeau, but as far as his handling of the pandemic, he gets an F.
I’m actually very shocked by this. Maybe the US is hoarding doses. I feel like while Cheeto was still in office he was definitely selling the vaccine off to the highest bidder and probably internationally cut off Canada because Trudeau wasn’t kissing his ass. But I don’t understand why stuff hasn’t opened up with the new administration.
The US IS hoarding doses. There are many articles online about the US hoarding problem. They (United States) also are willing to allow vaccine doses to expire instead of sending them to other countries.
I just read a reddit post today from a healthcare worker who works in my metro area and they are throwing out handful of doses each day because the supply is more than the demand. Yes, the vaccines are readily available but they aren’t getting to the places they need to go to.
The US is still vaccinating. I don’t think that’s hoarding doses. North Dakota is vaccinating Canadian truckers (essential workers) for free:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56824177.amp
They are hoarding AZ vaccines because those will expire and they won’t be used since the CDC hasn’t approved them.
The US IS absolutely hoarding doses. It is shameful. Canada isn’t doing anything wrong, it’s neighbour is following an “America first” agenda and isn’t being a good global citizen.
The US has lent us 1.5 million doses of Astra Zeneca. I think that same amount was given or lent to Mexico. Pretty sure the deal is that we will return that amount when we receive ours, but AZ hasn’t been approved in the US. I know the premiere of Manitoba asked their neighbour North Dakota to vaccinate (or give 4000 vaccines to) cross border truckers. Yesterday Biden intimated that more would be done to help, so it’s not total hoarding!
The US seconded ALL of Canada’s Pfizer doses in January, the day after Biden’s inauguration, already bought and paid for. Biden IS hoarding.
Mexico was sent 2.5 Million when we received 1.5 which makes perfect sense as I don’t think they were able to secure as many of Pfizer and Moderna that we were able to
The only reason the US “loaned” Canada the Astra Zeneca vaccine is that they were due to expire. This has been covered in the news extensively here in Canada. The US has only been a good neighbour to Canada when it serves them best. Sad but true.
Not to be that person Kelly but it’s not America’s job to take care of everyone else. Much as you all like to burden us with that. We’re not the big sister in an orphaned family. Of course we’re going to vaccinate here first. You would be doing the same. I understand you’re upset by that but also weren’t all of you laughing at the US months ago because we couldn’t get it together? Now you all have your hands out. Poor infrastructure led to this. That’s something you need to ask your government about. When the US is done vaccinating it’s population it will no doubt move on to 3rd world countries. But like Macron (my adopted country) blaming the US for not doing more in 3rd world countries, the US is going to take care of itself first. That’s a given. Right now all of the countries with shortages are looking onto the US with envy, but would be doing the exact same thing. Why doesn’t Canada ask the UK for help? Canada is a commonwealth country and the UK is doing good numbers itself.
At least 26% of the population has had one shot. They are waiting 4 months between the shots in order to get at least some protection via first shot as they can. The problem is that there are no Pfizer, J&J or Moderna vaccine manufacturing facilities in Canada because the nearby US facilities cover both markets under normal circumstances. Canadian government has offered to finance building of facilities, but those companies have refused (because they know that they won’t need those facilities after pandemic). These are not normal circumstances because President Biden has yet to lift Trump’s ban on export of vaccines manufactured in US. My husband went back to Michigan to get his shots, but I can’t do that because I can’t afford to follow self-isolation rules after return because I have a 4-year old at home. It’s a big mess, but I can’t really blame the Canadian government. They’ve pre-purchased and paid for hundreds of millions of doses. There is only so much you can do without manufacturing capacity.
Well then Biden has to lift that.
Maybe he will soon. I’ve noticed a huge difference in the past month. When I got my first shot I was just one of 3 waiting. When I got my 2nd, there were over a dozen people waiting. Vaccines seem to be flowing easily now. At least in my state.
But like someone else said, the US demand seems to be going down lately. The people that really want it have gotten it. Now we are dealing with the hesitant people and trying to convince them.
He suggested yesterday that he may be allowing some export in the very near future. Let’s hope he does. People didn’t initially mind because the situation in the US was so critical and so many people were dying, but it’s hard to justify it now that we are hearing reports of doses spoiling and people not wanting to get the shots.
I live in a red state and we see news reports that no one is coming to vaccination centers now, like there were 3K shots available at one center and only 60 people showed up. I don’t know if that means no one else wants any or if it means they need to do something else to get shots in arms, like start offering at churches or smaller local community venues, because only about a third of our population is now fully vaccinated.
Ditto what Chaine said. In my (red) area, there is far more availability than takers. As the age groups lowered, so did the demand.
He really does. I’m in Houston and our federal site at NRG Stadium doesn’t even require an appointment anymore. You just walk or drive up and get your Pfizer shot, anyone 16 or older. The CVS pharmacies near me all have appointments available tomorrow and Monday.
We need to start exporting the doses close to expiration at the very least. Letting vaccines go to waste as our neighbors struggle is such a moral failure on our part.
Im sorry to ask, but why can’t your husband watch the 4 year old while you go get vaccinated? He gets the privilege and you have to skip it for now because you have to watch a child who is both yours and his ? I’m sorry, I don’t follow.
Easy on the judgment. It’s not his call. It’s my call, and I don’t think my son would take it too well either. What’s not to understand?
IMO it’s not necessarily judgement, it’s a reflection that men don’t have to shoulder the same burdens of home and child care.
In theory if you are both equal parents then there shouldn’t be an issue with one parent leaving and the other ‘can’t’.
Detritus: We are not talking about a couple of days. It was a total of five weeks of separation. I’ve never been away from my child for more than two days, and the thought alone makes me cry. We wanted one of us to be fully vaccinated, and he took one for the team. It has nothing to do with how we divide our domestic chores.
This division of childcare is more common than others & why this pandemic has effected mothers in a very different way than fathers. Our society still puts the childcare responsibility on mothers & most households still run that way, just with the mom working as well. It’s common for a family to not blink an eye when a father stays away from their child for a while, but the mother being away is seen very differently. And the mother puts this burden on herself as well, because it’s what we were taught, how we were raised & frequently our worth comes from child rearing.
I am divorced with 50/50 custody & this was STILL the habit & pressure of my family when this pandemic hit, so I give compassion to women. We didn’t create this system, but we live in it & try to manage best we can.
Our quarantine protocols are incredibly strict right now in Canada. I’m sure Mina_Esq will be able to wait it out for a little longer until she’s able to get vaccinated here. Hang in there Mina_Esq!
Well we are hitting a wall wheredemand forthevaccine is going down in the US because peopledont want it, so we can hopefully share with people who do.
That’s what I was thinking. Both the right wing trumpsters and the woo crowd are never taking the vaccine no matter what we do. Ship the vaccines to the Canadians.
Except a good portion of young people JUST started qualifying for the vaccine MONDAY. Yes, demand will go down, but there is a new group that is getting vaccinated right now. And, in a lot of areas, it’s still impossible to get an appointment. So no, we haven’t hit a wall yet.
I’m sorry if I came across rude or as if I was blaming you. You certainly didn’t say anything inflammatory. It’s my own baggage, as it seems to me that my local area went from plenty of availability to reduced hours right when it opened up for everyone (I’m in Maryland, but not a large county). The only answer I’ve gotten for why is essentially that they’re anticipating lower numbers, yet by getting rid of evening/Saturday hours, they’re making it less possible for those of us who finally can get it but still have to work, care for children, etc.
I think I’ve just become a Millennial with a chip on my shoulder out of nowhere, & this pandemic is finally bringing out the worst in me. Sorry again & thanks for letting me vent!
This way of thinking bothers me. I just became eligible in my state a week ago & it seems like the conversation is so quickly jumping to “nobody wants it” without giving younger people a chance to actually get it. The only times available in my area since I’ve been eligible are Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday before 5 pm, & that’s from the health department, as the drug stores still have no openings. I’m hoping for a Saturday, which they had for months at earlier phases, but I’m worried that they’re winding down because vulnerable populations have presumably gotten it.
It just feels like another “blame the Millennials” hot take, when people in my age range have helped our older family members & friends navigate sometimes difficult registration processes, answered questions, kept our eyes on the entire process, & been very patient, only to see options dwindle & be told we’re not really interested.
Nooo, I don’t mean that at all, I understand there are millions of younger Americans who are going to get it, but haven’t been able to yet. I’m speaking of the millions who just never will get it. I’d rather send theirs to Canada then sit around trying to convince those meatheads to do it. Not about Millennials at all, I don’t play that generation thing. Actually when I think of the meatheads I am mostly picturing white boomer trumpers.
I don’t see anything in her comment blaming a specific group, by generational cohort or political affiliation.
Can I ask what state you live it? Things have completely opened up in NJ. I’ve booked over 100 appointments for people when they were scarce. I am completely shocked by how many appointments there are since opening it up to everyone on Monday.
Well I’m glad it’s opened to you now and hope everyone that wants one gets their appt. ASAP. I’m seeing the same thing as Darla here in a red state. We have had eligibility for 16 and over for over a month now and the demand is definitely slowing way down. Unfortunate we are one of the few counties in the state where cases are steadily rising as well but that’s not a surprise at this point. Nothing will change some people’s minds, not even when they get it. I was reading a very disturbing Reddit yesterday that asked doctors their experiences with having to diagnose covid deniers with covid and it was just so insane that people will use their last dying breathe to scream about covid being a hoax and spitting on staff. It just seems like the is as far as humanity will go at this point.
I also wanted to add I think we need to start getting doses to Canada ASAP. I grew up next door to Canada and just feel like they are part of me and my childhood and really enjoyed visiting there so I’m with you Canada!
“Actually when I think of the meatheads I am mostly picturing white boomer Trumpers.”
@Darla – I have found a silver lining in this dark storm cloud. Some people really do need to be removed from the gene poll and if they do it themselves it just makes it easier on everyone involved.
I’m with you, Maria – I’m stunned that the hot take right now is that only anti-vaxxers are still unvaccinated. I live in a blue state, in a historically liberal city (Chicago) and everyone wants the vaccine. And eligibility has only opened up to all adults in the last two weeks here. Yesterday, I heard the first report of a big vaccination spot now taking walk-ins, but it was a very long line. There’s plenty more work to do here (but there’s also no reason for the US to be holding any of that AZ supply, give it away)
Ummm I’m in So California and it only opened up to 16 and over last Thursday.
It’s still hard to get appts
So we have in no way hit a wall yet
Ford is a reactionary. He opened up too early because he caves to the public. The playgrounds were closed for maybe 12 hours – people protested and he caved. Don’t get me wrong, he shouldn’t have closed them in the first place, but he has no real plan.
As for the vaccines, we Canadians need to be realistic. Of course the US will vaccinate their own population first. But give it a couple of months and Michigan will start exporting our way. It’s frustrating, but the smart thing to do is two more months of restrictions and wait our turn. It’s just reality. Instead we rushed to open up, and now have to be in lockdown again.
The worst part is the science deniers in m pay Facebook mommy groups who just want everything to open up. I blame people like them.
Yep, that sounds like the woo crowd alright. People think we only have the trumpster types to worry about, but they haven’t run into the woo mommies hawking essential oils.
What’s the “woo crowd”?
Snuffles, I had a woman tell me not to worry if I get Covid (this was early on) because she has oils that can cure it. The Jenny McCarthy crowd.
@Snuffles – the “woo” people are the far right wing conspiracy theory tin-foil hat wearing nut jobs. I had to block a FB friend I’ve known for 50 years because she became so strident about there being no such thing as a pandemic, that it’s a hoax and the left wing governments are pushing this vaccine as an evil way of gene manipulation.
@Darla when one of my children tested positive this summer (turned out to be a false positive) someone told me the same thing. She said, I wouldn’t worry to much about it.
@Jaded this denial attitude is so infuriating to me that I can’t even read about it anymore or I’m going to have a heart attack from my blood pressure going through the roof. The audacity of these people who deny it when their own eyes can see what’s going on in India and Brazil right now makes me so angry. How can you completely dismiss millions of people dying, millions suffering and people at all levels of govt from these countries begging for help. How can you just turn a blind eye and believe the most outrageous conspiracy shit that this is all being orchestrated when the most simple explanation is actually the truth. There have been pandemics before and many more epidemics so why is this so effing hard for people to believe? I have no faith in humanity anymore.
@Jaded,
I hope you told the former friend that she was a complete and hopeless lunatic before you blocked her.
I thought the woo crowd was the people who are generally liberal but are super into supplements and special diets and oils and jade eggs and crystals for healing because they don’t want to put anything “foreign” or “toxic” into their bodies. Like a gwynwth Paltrow or Kourtney kardashian type.
@NotSoSocialButterfly – I did in a very polite and non-judgmental way, basically saying everyone has a right to their opinions but for those of us who have lost friends and family to covid or have gotten sick, it’s a pretty insensitive and baseless opinion best left off of social media.
Lara K is right. Ford and his cabinet are reactionary. He refuses to put in paid sick leave, one of the longtime urgently necessary measures to control the pandemic. Now they’re pretending they’ll do something but he could pass legislation today if he wanted.
Meanwhile non COVID patients are being moved to hotels and whole hospitals are turning into ICUs. It’s a healthcare catastrophe like we’ve never seen.
For people outside Canada: we are a loose federation. The provinces administer health care.
WTH????………I thought all of Canada had paid sick leave and it was a benefit mandated at the National level.
@BayTampaBay – Canada has a mish-mash of sick leave programs in each province – some that pay only for a couple of days, some in large companies with healthy benefits programs can pay sick leave on a graduated level; full pay for a certain number of days, half pay for another number of days, some even have permanent disability programs. But hourly paid workers and those making under $25K often don’t get anything, or they have to apply to the government to be reimbursed and that takes ages. Kathleen Wynne, former Premier of Ontario, had introduced two paid personal emergency leave days in 2018, but Ford scrapped them soon after taking office. He doesn’t have plans to reinstate them, even after issuing a stay-at-home order that just took effect.
The federal government offers it for federal level jobs, but that doesn’t help private sector jobs in each province.
My friends father was just denied cancer treatment because the outbreak makes it too dangerous and he’s not doing well. He spent last night dying alone in a hospital not allowed to see family because of the pandemic.
He’s home now thankfully, but there was a time where they thought he’d pass before being able to see him.
Ford is at fault. He’s gone against medical advice. He’s implemented how many different types of lock downs? Four now?
He’s killing small businesses while allowing major manufacturers to continue operating.
Sick Kids Toronto now is accepting adults because of the overload. We’ve been signed up for weeks to get a vaccine and nothing.
I can’t believe that buffoon was elected after his brother and he’s just as bad.
Don’t even get me started on the police stops he recommended that basically all police refused to do.
100% Doug Ford is an idiot. I was/wasn’t surprised he got elected.
Doug Ford is not a smart man. I will never understand why he was elected especially after the mess that was his brother. People knew what he was when he was elected.
The liberals had been in power for 15 years and so there was always going to be a change in government for that election. Sadly the NDP are viewed as too radical by boomers who never got over Bob Rae (who is now a federal liberal) and so the conservatives were basically always going to win regardless of leader. But instead of choosing someone competent like Christine Elliott, they chose Doug Ford the populist buffoon and frankly that PC leadership convention was like a mini version of the electoral college mess with Hillary because Elliot actually had the most votes to be leader but they used a bs system to weight votes differently from various areas of ontario and handed Ford the win.
Anyway developers sure like this premier because they are getting rules changed to build all over the protected green belt and the companies can just let their workers get infect with covid and not really pay any price.
Elect a clown; expect a circus to govern.
Doug Ford is a clown
Christine Elliot has been a cold sycophant throughout the pandemic. These people just want to privatize the health system. Ford is stupid, yes, but he’s also ideological and surrounded by a mix of other ideologues who vary in smarts. Taken together they have been miserably incompetent.
How did Doug Ford get elected?
@BayTampaBay – he managed to hose the electorate into thinking it was time for Ontarians to take action on excess government spending. He managed to convince the Conservative majority that he best understood their pocketbook struggles and would save them money. Plus his predecessor, Kathleen Wynn, got caught up in a scandal where the construction of two power plants went ahead without input from the local communities and construction was eventually halted. All in all it wasted something like $950 million. Unfortunately for Ontario, Ford, like Trump, is simply not concerned with longer-term issues like infrastructure, senior care and pharma-care and look where it got Ontario.
I do agree that Christine Elliott has not done much right now, but she couldn’t have been a worse leader than what we currently have. She is actually a smart person so it’s sad to see how little she has challenged this nonsense.
Ford was elected due to a knee jerk reaction towards Wynn. People had had more than enough of her spending and terrible leadership. Although, currently on FB people are asking, if she doesn’t look pretty good right about now.
I had read somewhere that Canada purchased vaccines from the States but they are being held up. I can see hoarding (sort of) but to actually prevent the paid for vaccines from being shipped to us is too much. How many will suffer because of this?
Trudeau is also an arrogant “my way or no way” SOB – so we in Ontario are F’d.
I’m not doubting Ford is at fault I’m ON and I still can’t believe he was elected. But things are bad in qc and bc too and that’s not his fault. In qC our premier is not a crazy seeming guy he’s an experienced politician but I think he was way too late with the restrictions and keeps lifting them. Also, the govt ignores that schools being open is a huge spreader. There’s a curfew in MTL now so people all have to shop before 7:45 for groceries and can’t be on the street without a work paper after 8. But the schools are still as usual and there aren’t any extra buses to spread commuters out and there’s not even sanitizer in the bus or metro , or regulation on behaviour like Adults removing masks and eating On the bus. So unfortunately even when the premier doesn’t appear to be very unfit things still aren’t going well
BC has been too lax with restrictions. I mentioned somewhere above that Bonnie Henry is relying too much on people doing the right thing when clearly even a few not doing the right thing has created huge problems. Despite evidence of this, the government is not imposing stricter rules. I would like to see travel between communities stopped, but that hasn’t happened.
When you think about it, two weeks is all it would’ve taken to stop the virus. Two lousy weeks to be shut down.
No one is wearing masks and everybody’s fine in Australia and New Zealand. They did it right.
BC is struggling for sure. All the campgrounds are filled up to capacity with tourists. Every other car seems to have Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta license plates. Whey are these people allowed to enter BC when covid cases are surging? Premier Horgan needs to lock down ASAP, especially since some VERY virulent variant strains are spreading like wildfire here. I love Dr. Bonnie Henry, but she’s been far too soft on imposing restrictions and caving to the “mah rights!” anti-maskers.
For all us Yanks: QC = Quebec City
I Googled so you don’t have to!
I was too embarrassed to ask and show my stupidity.
@BTB in Canada we abbreviate Quebec to QC because it is the postal address abbreviation. Since she was referring to the premier, that’s the equivalent of governor for the province.
@Nic919 – I googled and that is what came up. I was not smart enough to argue with google so I accepted that it was like NYC and LA. LOL!
Pointer for Americans (because I’ve seen a couple of confused questions around)
Canada has 10 provinces & 3 Territories. The main ones you’ll read about in posts here (because they are the most populous and have the highest rates of infection) are the following 3:
-ON = Ontario
-QC = Quebec
-BC = British Columbia
@carebear. You forgot Alberta. They are higher than BC, which is also not great.
I’m guessing that the US will start sending more doses Canada’s way pretty quickly. I think for the past few months Biden has been operating like you do on an airplane – put your airmask on first, and then help the people around you. We were in such bad shape for the past year thanks to Trump and his administration’s disastrous approach to the virus, that I think Biden has been playing catch-up of sorts.
But, it is in our interest to have the border with Canada open and to have a good relationship with Canada in general, and that’s going to mean helping them out with vaccines, so I’m assuming that’s going to happen sooner rather than later. (also it’s the right thing to do.) At least I hope that’s what happens.
It’s true, we were in a God-awful place when he first took office. The airmask is a good analogy.
Excellent analogy, Becks! You’re right. The last administration literally left us with no plan. And hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine “disappeared”. Biden has been focused on getting the shit show in the US fixed first.
Totally agree. I do think Biden has been trying to pull us out of a dire situation. But it’s time that we start helping Canada, as well as other countries that don’t have vaccine access.
Yes! Canadian here and that’s how I understood it, too. The US was coming off 4 years of absolute insanity and needed to get their house in order before reaching out to help others. I don’t blame them and honestly think it was the right call. As things get sorted, I am confident that Biden will start looking to helping neighbouring countries. We are all in this together and things will work out eventually.
Canada & Mexico are more to the USA than neighboring countries. They are our partners.
Thanks BTB. You’re right 😘
Canadian here. (living in the US) Doug Ford will always pass the buck. He reopened too soon. My parents have yet to get their vaccine. My dad can’t even secure a spot yet as he has no health issues. But he is an essential worker.
My parents live in Atlantic Canada, which did a great job of creating a bubble and controlling the out breaks there, but they need vaccines. And yah, they should be coming from Michigan and not over seas because Michigan could get them to Canada within hours. It’s ridiculous.
Alberta’s a mess as well – not as bad as Ontario, but you can bet that anywhere with a redneck-pandering, Conservative equivocator in charge is going to suffer. Infections and variant strains are rising every day, and Kenney still won’t impose a circuit-breaker lockdown. When a sizeable group in his caucus issued a public letter protesting the weak-ass measures we had in place, he defended their “right to free speech”, then turned around and placed sole blame on lack of personal responsibility for the increasing infection rate. I’m also assuming defends people walking into wildfire risk areas carrying flamethrowers? If he ever stops prioritizing his (falling) polling numbers over peoples’ lives, I think I’ll die of shock.
The only thing making me feel better is that my elderly mother is fully vaccinated. My partner and I have both had our first shot; no idea when we’ll get the booster. More vaccines would absolutely help; considering the economic impact of the US-Canada border closure, it would be in our southern neighbour’s best interests to send some vaccine north, if they can.
@HoofRat – Is there a Canadian Stacey Abrams; You know, the WOC who almost single handedly got Joe Biden elected President and almost single handedly flipped the US Senate to a Democrat majority? If not maybe we can loan you Stacey for a few months as she could get a mess this sized cleaned up in about six weeks! LOOL! LOL!
Ha! Same here! Mom’s 89 and fully vaccinated (right before they decided to delay 2nd dose) and hubby and I have our first doses of AZ. Now we need to keep our fingers crossed the US can come through with more AZ so we can have our second doses which are due mid-June and first of July. And as far as our little Trumpwannabe named Jason, I will never vote conservative again in my life! (And I am a life-long small C conservative. I miss the Progressive part of the party). Rachel has caught him in so many lies in the last year it’s absolutely pathetic. Didn’t always agree with her policies, but I’m pretty damn sure she never lied to us when she was Premier
trying to reply to BayTampaBay:
Wish we had a Canadian Stacey Abrams. I don’t think we have any politicians with much charisma. That’s why Trudeau has fared so well. Not much competition.
@Margot – Not just charisma but common sense smarts, intelligence, political acumen and honest as the day is long.
I’m in Toronto. The vaccine orders are all delayed. Schools were open all winter and now Ontario has over 4000 cases daily. ICU’s are full. No one has had the second dose of the vaccine except health care workers. Toronto has been in lockdown since March 2020. There’s a stay at home order so we can’t leave our home unless it’s groceries. We have no factory to produce vaccines (even though Canada was told back when SARS happened that they should make one). We have no streamlined way of collecting health data, we still use fax machines, (compared to israel who has a top of the line digital health Network to provide Pfizer with all the detail they want about the vaccines effect on citizens)
This is Trudeau’s fault. He was a teacher before he became prime Minister and has no clue how to do business. FML.
How is this Trudeau’s fault? Canada was one of the first countries to place orders for more than enough of the vaccines to inoculate everyone. But we haven’t gotten them. We are a small country and have no clout. What is he supposed to do about that? The rest of your argument is just noise. It has nothing to do with the fact that we cannot get the vaccines that were promised.
“ Trudeau has no clue how to do business.” So you think the Prime Minister makes decisions in a vacuum? Give me a break. There are qualified people making decisions and advising him. Also, being a teacher does not mean you don’t know how to do business. What a connection to make.
Every time Trudeau‘s name comes up on the site, Conservatives come here to bash him, but your arguments are laughable in this case.
Oh, I’m not a conservative. I just think Justin Trudeau is doing a terrible job as prime minister. He had barely any experience in parliament. The Liberal party of Canada was desperate to come back after the embarassing election with Ignatieff. Trudeau had his dad’s name, so here we are. This is of course my opinion. And I am allowed to be critical because I voted for a Liberal MPP in my riding and I am very upset with how they are handling this pandemic at a federal level. If I could vote today I would vote NDP.
Sure you voted Liberal. If that were the case you would have also criticized Doug Ford, a Conservative who is mainly to blame for the problem in Ontario. But you didn’t. You focused on Trudeau. Even then your criticisms are very vague. Liberals desperate to get into power. LOL. All political parties are desperate to get into power.
I agree, it’s hard to say Trudeau is at fault. Pandemic planning as well as health care planning should have always included domestic vaccine production. Canada’s domestic vaccine production is non existent, and from what I understand, the facilities can’t be built over night.
Now is the time to build a better response considering all experts say covid will be with us for a long time. There are pharma companies in Alberta developing covid vaccines but without the ability to mass produce them, how will they get vaccines into arms? The federal and provincial governments have to do more to fund facilities and get production. They need to learn a lesson from this pandemic: domestic production of PPE, drugs and vaccines needs to be a priority.
@jordana, Canada used to be a leader in vaccine production until the Conservative government under Brian Mulroney, gutted and privatized the healthcare system. So here we are.
@gollygee, exactly! The truth is we were unprepared for any pandemic, and that process of being unprepared started decades ago a la Mulroney.
So, for everyone screaming “Justin’s fault!” (Especially here in Alberta), I wish they would educate themselves. The failure to respond to this pandemic appropriately has been underway for decades. Emergency planners should have seen this coming, and raising alarm years ago.
We are now relying on production in Europe, and the deliver of vaccines purchased has been spotty and unpredictable.
You know what, I don’t care that I will be bashed for saying this and that my liberal bonafides will be questioned. I don’t need to explain just how liberal I am to anyone. But, I will say this – this has been a total failure from the top down. Individually, yes a failure as people refuse to accept personal responsibility and a large percentage still find ways to break the rules, Provincially yes as far too many provinces have not aimed for CovidZero in handling this and yes the conservative provinces have been abominably bad but BC has made absolutely terrible decisions as well, and finally Federally, absolutely yes a failure, from the initial reluctance to stop international travel to the far too late implementation of very strict quarantine post travel (something many, many countries had been doing successfully for almost a year) to absolutely a complete bungling of the vaccine procurement process. Yes, we did order doses for many times our population but if you look at our timeline for ordering, we did in fact order far later than many of our peers. And that’s on us and the federal government.
As well, it is fascinating to read on the extraordinary effort made by the UK (ad yes I despise BoJo) to get their manufacturing capacity from next to nothing to capable of producing vaccines in under a year. We had that same potential, but not the…willpower, ingenuity? I don’t know what….and I do lay some of this at the feet of Justin Trudeau. I still think he has no place being PM. Not because he was a teacher, that’s rubbish, but because as a legacy kid who is also terribly handsome, what are the odds that he would have had to fight for anything, earn anything, truly develop grit and the level of curiousity and audacity necessary for higher office? Sadly, he has been exactly who I feared he would be when he was chosen.
I’m grateful for Trudeau, because he’s better than a lot of world leaders (those of prominent countries that Im aware of ) at this moment. He’s had some serious scandals and I feel like he could have handled covid better (containing the spread). I voted for him last time and might vote for him again, I have no intention to vote conservative. Still, even though I’m not conservative I’m here to say that he has serious issues which I don’t want to mention to not ruin my mood and I wish there were a better candidate. One issue easy to mention which no one in Canada should have forgotten is that he promised electoral reform and it was a big part of his platform to become PM. We can want him to do better (and be more open to answering questions about his own actions) and not be conservative.
Uhm Golly Gee, I am a black female Canadian and a NDP party member and supporter and Trudeau Jr. is NOT a good leader. He is inefficient, complicit in putting big business/his buddies businesses ahead, ignoring systemic racism, ignoring First nations rights and in not following through on promises. Sigh this is the problem with Canada we seem to forget we have 4 major parties and we have choice. Literally I just came on to say that NO not all folks that talk about the failings of Trudeau and the liberals are conservatives. Other than that all I can say is this is a mess, all the provinces aside from the Maritimes seem to be handling this badly. I am from BC and it’s a disaster and super frustrating. Regarding the borders, I mean it’s a lot of the essential travelers bringing the vid and really the problem is primarily community spread and people just being idiots. Sigh I could go on but this post is clearly too long.
IMPO, ALL of the Western First World Countries have failed in their responses to this pandemic for one reason and one reason only: The politicians, who think they know everything but actually know very little, did not and would not listen to the scientists who really do know more than a thing or two about viruses and pandemics.
@Scotchy – I didn’t say Trudeau was a good leader. I was arguing specific points regarding the handling of Covid. He’s far from perfect, but when I see posts that are clearly from political trolls, full of hyperbole, not based on facts about the topic at hand, or honing in on Trudeau to the exclusion of all else that has influenced the situation, it bothers me. And I could be wrong, but my impression from the posts I accused of being from conservatives had to do with the tone and language used. They had the same feeling that conservative election campaigns have, like a smear campaign. I don’t get that vibe from NDP, liberals or Greens when they are campaigning. The criticisms you made were valid, but again this thread is about Covid not about the issues you brought up. But since you have, Horgan calling a snap election in the middle of a pandemic is slimy as hell. I used to vote NDP but I’ve voted for the Green party the last couple of election cycles, and while they formed a minority government with the NDP the environment stood a chance. But now that The NDP has a majority government, they are allowing fracking. So yeah, there’s plenty of criticism to go around.
In the end I would rather see liberals in power federally than the conservatives and the NDP has little hope of being elected federally anytime soon. Nor do the Greens, but I vote for them federally too.
Exactly – he should’ve closed the borders a year ago – yet here we are with planes full of covid landing here in Toronto every day!
Nice talking point but the facts show workplaces have been the largest method of community spread. And Ford still refuses to provide paid sick days for vulnerable workers.
Not all provinces are going through this mess because not all premiers handled this as poorly as Ford.
The I see the O’Tool trolls are strong today 🙄
No you cannot blame the hospital disaster on Trudeau. That is 100% a provincial responsibility and that is Doug Ford who failed to listen to the actual science that the Ontario Science Table predicted in February and yet he still reopened parts of the GTA, as if people don’t travel across Steeles to go from toronto to York region.
And the system for vaccination distribution is chaos. Here again the pharmacies have a hundred different waitlists and each public health region does a different thing. Ford here has been unwilling to take responsibility for anything and drops down responsibility to the head doctors for each public health unit, some of whom didn’t believe there would be a third wave, like the guy from York Region.
Don’t love the dig against teachers here. Teachers are holding so much shit together right now by the skin of their teeth. You can criticize Trudeau without implying that he isn’t capable because he was a teacher.
The second they use the drama teacher crap then it’s a Trudeau hater talking point and nothing else is real.
Ford did one semester of community college and then dropped out to run his dad’s label business along with his brother Rob. They are the canadian version of trumps.
I am SOO sick of people criticizing Trudeau because he was “just” a teacher.
Teachers contribute greatly to society – as a profession they probably have the single largest impact. Most teachers could run a business but most business people couldn’t run a classroom.
Health care funding and vaccine supply comes from the feds but is administered by the provinces.
By all accounts Ford is at best inept. This is why Ontario is in hard shape. I’m truly sorry for what’s happening there.
I’m in Atlantic Canada. Yes, demographics and geography are different, but having leaders who listen to science and follow the recommendations made by Public Health is the real reason we are faring better.
ETA for the record I’m not a teacher nor do I have children. I just appreciate what they contribute to the world.
Oh please! Stop placing provincial problems at the feet of the federal government.
Oh baloney. Stephen Harper sold off Connaught Labs to private interests. Conservative governments privatize every chance they get.
Andrew Scheer, previous Conservative party leader, was an office boy in insurance agency and pretended to be a licensed broker.
Ford was a college dropout who sold hash.
Happy to have a teacher in charge, especially one trained on the world stage. Arrogant, confident, whatever….at least he’s done something to keep people from starving.
Most Canadian provinces made the decision to put first doses into as many people as possible instead of focusing solely on fully vaccinating a smaller number, especially as we have been f*cked over by manufacturing issues with Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca and have been slow to receive promised vaccines. So this article is a bit misleading, especially since the US could easily help us out but has been refusing to.
Now if you want to talk about how much Doug Ford has f*cked over Ontarians with his lack of paid sick leave, let’s do that..he is causing so many un-necessary deaths.
he is a complete fool who showed his ass when his crack brother was still mayor at yet people still voted for his buck a beer. now we are in trump province and he has pissed off because hes an idiot. hes throwing shade but refusing to acknowledge his own faults. fucking amazon has lined his pockets. disaster.
Where I live, Nova Scotia, our cases are relatively low right now. We just had 25 cases yesterday and today or Chief Med officer and Premier are having a new conference. We are expecting some restrictions for the next few weeks. Which usually involves travel in and out of our major city Halifax. Now Ontario is an absolute mess, they are in a 6 week lockdown with schools closed. Two different parties run each province.
We also have mandatory masking since July 2020.
And I have my 1st shot in March and my 2nd is in July.
The Maritimes and NWT have handled this very well. Creating a bubble amongst the Maritime provinces was such a smart idea. The rest of Canada not so much.
The Maritimes have done a good job. No doubt. But everytime someone in Nova Scotia orders something from Amazon, that goes through a redistribution centre in Peel. Everytime they go to a grocery store that produce goes through a depot in Brampton. Everytime they buy chicken, thats from a meatpacking factory outside Toronto. This is where to bottle necks are, and people are dying here to make it easier for people elsewhere to stay home.
Except Ontario (and by Ontario to be clear I mean Doug Ford, this lies at his feet) did virtually nothing to protect those workers. It’s certainly more complicated because the population is more dense, but that just means stricter measures need to be adopted more quickly. You can’t just throw up your hands and say its harder here than in other provinces, we aren’t even going to try.
Ford instituted half assed stay at home orders that he lifted far too soon, allowing covid to circulate in the community completely out of control. He made decisions based on political reasons not public health ones. If you can have some semblance of control of the spread in the community you can protect the essential workers. There was an outbreak in a chicken processing plant in NS not too long ago. The plant was immediately closed for what was supposed to be two weeks and every single worker, symptomatic or not, was tested several times. It re-opened ahead of schedule. I read today that you can’t even get an asymptomatic test in Ontario if you want one. Any person in NS can get a test at any time for any reason (or no reason at all). NS is testing nearly twice as many people per capita per day. Ontario has the resources to do all these things and more (but needed to start before things exploded into the shit show they are now).
Would a better strategy have gotten Ontario to Covid zero?, Not likely. But there are plenty of things that could have been done to prevent it from getting this bad. He refuses paid sick leave. No quarantine on entering the province from within Canada. He didn’t even institute a province wide mask mandate until October!! That is the absolute very least that could be done.
As an update – NS had 38 cases today and signs of community spread. These are the restrictions immediately put into place: No non-essential travel in or out of the major city, no visitors in long term care, schools with covid cases closed for two weeks and will go to online learning, no special events (sports, arts and culture, wedding receptions, funerals), all fitness facilities closed, libraries closed, indoor/outdoor gatherings limited to 5, restaurants closed to all but takeout, retail limited to 25% capacity, ETC.
Chief medical officer expressly notes that schools need to stay open for our economy to function so these steps are taken to hopefully protect that as much as possible.
All those “but the economy” conservative premiers really meant to say is that they don’t give a shit about the essential workers because they are replaceable. Had they cared, we would have shut down so many workplaces months ago when outbreaks were happening, and mostly they were happening because the owners of these companies had direct contact with Ford’s cabinet and they were not punished for letting their workers get infected and in turn infect the community at large.
And that doesn’t even get into how we let seniors in LTCs be slaughtered because private companies created a situation where PSWs had to work multiple locations because they were not paid a liveable wage if they only worked at one place.
LTC=???
PSW=???
LTC = Long Term Care
PSW = Personal Support Worker (= underpaid, under protected, overworked healthcare worker)
The expansion of policing powers to trample our Charter rights is also very concerning. Sure, police services said they wouldn’t use them but cops never do what they aren’t supposed to right? It’s very dangerous for marginalized communities that are already more heavily affected by the pandemic.
In conclusion, it’s a total shit show here. We can’t go on like this much longer, but we have little choice.
They are already stopping people more and you don’ have to guess who they are stopping. I’m black as is my whole family and when the new measures were announced last week even with so many police services saying they wouldn’t be enforcing it, all Black Canadians knew what was up. Unless they actually revoke the measures they are leaving it to individual officers and departments to make choices and that doesn’t usually work well for those of us with marginalized identities. And this whole thing sucks even more because we are only 2 years out from Ontario’s carding review(for non Canadians police stop checks that disproportionally were used to criminalize and harass Black people and Indigenous peoples) and last week when the increased powers were announced a friend of mine who is a human rights lawyer and worked on the review was like this is a nightmare and they have learned nothing.
Uggggghh Sunny. I’m sorry this is happening. It isn’t okay. I’m disgusted and fired off emails to my reps at every level and local police service immediately to let them know.
I’m in what’s currently known as a hot spot here in BC, and supposedly we can line up for a shot no matter our age, they say they are currently vaccinating 40+ year olds, again no one has heard of this. Dr Henry keeps telling us we can get a shot at our local drugstore today, they don’t know what we’re talking about. My appointment is in three weeks and I’m 60yo. What an unbelievable farce this vaccine roll out is. I am severely disappointed in Justin’s handling of this.
They let a ski resort here stay open and ended up with almost 900 people infected, most with the Brazilian version.
My take (haven’t looked at it closely but from what I can see) is that the problem is more due to provincial mishandlings and that the Feds should be more involved in the rollout than they are. I think they should be more involved in enforcing uniform policies across provinces too.
Constitutionally, they can’t be more involved unless the province invites them to help.
The feds are not omnipotent powers that can swoop in to fix things for health care – that’s solely a provincial issue.
Everyone wants to press the easy button (send in the military or the feds!) but they don’t have scores of doctors or supplies waiting – they aren’t involved in provincial healthcare. They provide funding for the provinces to use as they wish. That’s it.
@Jedi yes and no. The federal government always coordinates across provinces. It can nationalize supply chains (it did in BC and Alberta early in the outbreak). It can take action…always odd to me how Canadians see Federalism as precluding federal involvement when really, it is simply about coordinating federal involvement. The pandemic transcends provincial borders, and so do pandemic policies. The Feds can also act behind the scenes, convening meetings with Premiers rather than formally intervening. There are a lot of options here. I imagine there’s something of a lack of political will in Ottawa bc once you get involved, you take all the heat.
@GrnieWnie & Jedi – Is the Federal Government in Canada less powerful than the Federal Government in USA?
This is the provincial government’s fault at this point, although I agree with GrnieWnie that the federal government should’ve been more involved from the start, and restricted travel more than they have. we wouldn’t have the variants if they had done this. The issue with the rollout is that there are not enough vaccines so the vaccines can’t be rolled out. Enough were ordered but we have been shorted.
Bonnie Henry has been playing nice when she should be doing what’s necessary to control the spread of the virus. I’m so sick of her. She expects everyone to do the right thing, despite evidence to the contrary, and those of us who are doing the right thing you have to pay for it. My location has supposedly been able to book for the vaccine for a week now according to the provincial government website, but when I phone there is nothing showing on their computers for my location.
I’m also from BC and I
Was just about to post everything you wrote
57 here registered two weeks ago and have heard nothing
Allergies are so bad right now
Taking my temperature so many times
I just want this to be over so I can see my children grandchildren and my parents
Those sound like provincial decisions, not federal decisions. Justin doesn’t decide which ski resorts stay open or the vaccine priority within provinces.
Ford is like our trump lite – he’s stupid and a bully, a terrible combination during a pandemic like this!
Right now Ontario has been pressing for paid sick days and he REFUSES and keeps blaming the federal government (but healthcare is provincial in Canada!!)
Ford is actually IN HIDING right now, he says he’s isolating but a lot of it is cowardice. He can’t even figure out how to zoom into meetings without ppl to do it for him (like when he’s in the office.) There are actual articles out right now that he’s not visible because he can’t figure out the new laptop and has a blackberry that can’t download attachments. How pathetic!!
It’s such a mess.
I’m immunocompromised and have been in full lockdown since March ’20, I’m starting to lose it with how things are going in Ontario!!
Neither myself or my caregiver are vaccinated under the approach by Doug Ford, the only people in my family who have been vaccinated are the ones who are retired (and very able bodied) and able to shield, while the ones who are working or have health complications like me are not. I’ve reached out to all levels of government and there’s nothing anyone can do.
This is partly because Ontario’s convervatives are choosing vaccination hotspots based on bullshit partisan games! Like actually, they’re picking conservative ridings as hotspots instead of actual hotspots in some areas!! There’s an auditor general looking into it but my god.
For Americans, Doug Ford is Rob Ford’s brother – Rob Ford was the Toronto mayor know for smoking crack. And he was nicer than Doug.
It’s a mess, I’m terrified. I just want to be vaccinated and to feel safe again, I’ve been trapped inside for too long. I’ve even been having panic attacks over it and I didn’t used to have those anymore, it’s awful.
I am so sorry. Jesus. What you describe about the hotspots sounds a lot like what DeSantis was doing in Florida. They are all the same regardless of the country. I wish you could come here and get vaccinated. What a terrible spot to be in, my heart goes out to you.
This is all accurate. It’s infuriating.
Also, terrible death toll last spring in nursing homes which are generally private. Lots of lobbying on the part of the owners, including a former Conservative premier of ontario, Michael Harris.
They haven’t done anything to improve staffing or infection control in these facilities, but they’re sending non-covid patients there anyway. ..,lots of beds feed up by the dead.
100 per cent Who. Our premier has been a disaster. Some of you from the States may not know that he is the brother of the unbelievable Rob Ford, crackhead, Chris Farley-esque former mayor of Toronto, who is since deceased, who embarrassed all of us Torontonians on a world stage some years ago.
Oh, and you left out the best bit. Ford isn’t just hiding, Ford is hiding in his mummy’s house, with a stack of refurbished Blackberries on which he does all his work, bc he doesn’t know how to operate a laptop and refuses to learn how.
I’m a dual citizen, been waiting to get the vaccine in my covid-free bubble in Canada but sh*t is taking too long and I think I’m going to fly south for it. It’s so rich seeing inept Doug Ford blame everyone else for the fact that he’s an idiot.
I am a dual citizen, from Canada, living in California for 20 years. I am fully vaccinated. My 76 year old sister, living in ontario, is still not vaccinated. She is also not in good health. My heart breaks for ontario. Celebitchy thank you for covering this.
She should be vaccinated by now – vaccines are open to anyone over 50 in Ontario
Same but I called neighboring states and in thosr, you need to be a resident. Got our 1st shots though so we’ll wait. In the US it would be hard to get 2nd without getting 1st at same place.
The crises is really about 3 things. 1. Canada doesn’t have it own domestic production to make vaccines so it purchased a huge amount from many American and European producers. But with delays in certain productions, there were delays in shipping and there have been even further delays in some of the vaccines Canada has been receiving. 2. Variants- all of the variants of the disease that have been categorized as dangerous and highly contagious have arrived here at once. In Ontario where the crises is the worst, GB variant, South African variant, and the Brazil variant have all taken root. 3. Federalism- Canada is a very strong federalist country where the division of power between the provinces and the national government are quite significant. The provinces hold power over health care(although they receive funds to pay for such programs through federal taxes). Trudeau has been fairly hands off in the crisis largely ceding power to the provinces while providing huge injections of cash to province to fund their efforts(funds the provinces would have difficulty raising by selling bonds on the international market). Anyway, that plan to largely let the provinces manage its own affairs have had varying levels of success. Many of the worst hit provinces have Conservative governments(Trudeau’s party is centre).
Ontario which the the epicentre of the crisis(where i live) has a terrible Conservative government led by one of the dumbest Canadians alive. He is an ego monster with no real qualifications, a rich idiot who got into power by lying his ass off and catering to special interests. His government came into power less than a year before the crisis on a platform of “buck a beer” and the” other guys went to far with their bs” (the other guys being a provincial Liberal government led by an out lesbian who pushed the province to implement greater worker protections and reform university costs. The messed up a few things but i’m not sure that was the root of the hate). The provincial government put in a plan that cut the few paid sick leave days Ontario had. Proposed a 10B over 10 year plan to cuts funds and consolidate public health units etc. Then the crisis hit. Ontario basically has been skirting advice given by experts who recommended paid sick leave, greater PPE in front line jobs, and a vaccine strategy that prioritized neighbourhoods where the the crisis was greatest (low income, racialized, multi generational homes, filled with front-line workers). The province has ignored that advice for months. They also ignored modelling that predicted these numbers(a member of Doug Ford’s cabinet said they waited to see if the modelling was correct because they don’t understand it is a predictive tool). When pressed to take action they rolled out a plan for greater restrictions that didn’t target where the crisis was happening and more powers of policing(which didn’t go over well with Ontario’s marginalized people because our policing is racist) and ignored the most pressing recommendations by his own provincial science table. Now the crisis is so bad Ontario hospitals are on the verge of collapse and the federal government is trying to offer help but the province is still acting like it can vaccinate its way out of this crisis without closing businesses where these outbreaks are happening(construction site and factories- some of Doug’s biggest supporters). The premier is in hiding- missing the last few question periods and not being seen publicly since last week(but apparently still hosting fundraisers virtually for his re-election efforts next year. But apparently Doug has been exposed to Covid and is now quarantining at home with his paid sick leave(oh the irony).
There is no one at the wheel of Canada’s most populous province. Some people here want the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act(not sure that is even doable here) to step in but that would trigger a crisis around federalism(it would be like trampling state’s rights). In the absence of the provincial government taking any further action, the municipal governments are putting in policies that shutdown workplaces where outbreaks are occuring and designating businesses non-essential. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/covid-essential-workers-vaccination-anne-huang-1.5990494
This has been my Ted Talk
*snaps* to all of this!
Jesus, it’s what we would be here if Trump’s January 6 coup attempt had been successful. My nightmare scenario. I’m so sorry, i really did not know it was this bad.
Thanks that covered it all.
I mean, I think you can argue Trudeau’s government bears some responsibility, around its approach to boarders, lack of domestic preparedness, the patchwork federal sick benefits, not pushing the provinces to come together more on a national strategy, but really their main failure was trusting the provincial government and the premiers to act as adults. The provinces have done such varied jobs depending on if their government willingly listen to experts. I think this is 80% the fault of the provinces.
Jesus, on the news last week the head of the Ontario provincial science table almost cried when he admitted their advice was ignored and publicly admitted he thought about resigning. Ford is the worst. But hey, he is coming out of hiding this morning so maybe the crisis is so terrible he might do something. However spotting Doug might just mean we get 8 more weeks of winter. *Shrug*
That’s a fair comment. You can ascribe blame to the feds for some aspects, but way too much is directly Ford ignoring what the Ontario Science Table was telling him to do back in February.
John McGrath of TVO asks Dr. Steni Brown at their presentation in February if he is right in seeing the numbers they are predicting as being a disaster. Dr. Brown responded with “you are correct in that assessment”.
We knew since February that this would happen and still Doug reopened places.
Very informative. Thank you for writing this.
Very good summation! I wish we could get him out of office in some way. 2022 seems so far away right now and I don’t think we could handle an election with everything that is going on. He and his part have no business running the province though.
I’m old enough to remember not being able to oust his brother as our mayor so I have zero hope. He’ll never resign either.
Yes to everything you’ve said Sunny!!!
Sunny has it right, this is a mess because of the conservative provinces messing up the rollout. Why would you have a picture of Trudeau for this article instead of Ford or Kenney? I’m fine with the federal rollout, it’s Alberta that’s fucking everything up for me. Blaming the feds while denying teachers their first dose, keeping schools open and only recently opening mass vaccination sites.
Blame Trudeau is such an uneducated response that conservatives love to jump on🙄 . He’s not nearly lefty enough for me but I’m not going to blame him for mistakes of Harper and Mulroney.
Agree with everything you’ve said, O. Kenney and Ford are big, brainless sucky babies who thought they would sail into office and ride a wave of uncritical popularity. Anytime someone points out their incredible, unending incompetence, all they can do is point their stubby fingers toward Ottawa and bleat, “Trudeau’s fault!”. Justin has his issues – lots of them – but I feel that he has access to advice from a lot of competent people, and he actually cares whether we live or die. Can’t say that for Tweedledee and Tweedledumber.
Agreed, Sunny. Also in Toronto. Ford is a nightmare and I think you have documented it all. Maclean’s had a good article on Tuesday about the Science Table trying to figure out whether they should all quit in revolt. They decided it wouldn’t help because there wouldn’t be any grownups in the room if they left.
I do think there is plenty of blame to go around. Our nation’s early warning system totally failed. Trudeau screwed up by not closing the borders when people were afraid that something was coming in from China last year. We were told to calm down and not be racist. He gave away all our PPE to China at the beginning of the pandemic. Trudeau also made a mistake by choosing to partner with China first to produce a vaccine that didn’t pan out. The feds should also have improved their portion of offering paid sick days. Only 2 provinces have them. I could go on.
I just think there’s been a failure by gov at all levels. I voted for Trudeau and I’m really disappointed in him. I did not vote for Ford.
I also did not vote for Ford. It’s been a nightmare seeing his smarmy face on TV, and then the pandemic hits and you know the guy is not only incompetent but also extremely dumb and egocentric. it’s a nightmare. The sooner he leaves, the better. He actually fired someone from that science table because the guy stuck up for the teachers. tell me its got nothing to do with an inflated ego. the man is worse than his brother.
BC Premier John Horgan called an election in the middle of our pandemic. I was beyond pissed at his arrogance and stupidity.
@Sunny – And an excellent Ted Talk it was.
But don’t forget, Jason Kenney is a very close second in terms of stupidity!
To sum up – Doug Ford is an inexperienced, uneducated, incompetent leader who should have never been elected in the first place.
Just yesterday I looked up his education and salary and was shocked. He only has a High School Diploma ??!! He makes over $300 000 a year…not including the money he makes off the business he owns. Ridiculous ! I still don’t understand how people voted for this dumb dumb instead of Andrea. People wanted a buck a beer instead of free dental. I just don’t get it.
Bleach blond teenage drug dealer to Premier of Ontario.
This goes back decades – Canada was once a vaccine leader, but Mulroney privatized our national pharmaceutical company in the 80s, and then signed NAFTA, which allowed US pharma companies to cannibalize Canada for allowing generic drugs. Many Canadian governments have done nothing about this. We were hit hard by SARS, but squeaked through, which gave us a false sense of security even though we didn’t have much in the way of production or R & D.
But our insulin (invented by a Canadian, who actually sold the patent to a university so that no one could profit from it) is way cheaper than Americans’ so there must not be a problem, eh?
When people talk about returning to “normal”, I really hope we don’t – too much of “normal” was actually piracy.
Yup. Slow claps for Mulroney.
That is a good point that I didn’t add in my long rant. I still think this is mainly on provincial failure to implement good policies(in vaccination strategy and containing the crisis) but the lack of domestic production does play a role in this and you can trace that all the way back to old Brian. Funny story, I grew up in Ottawa and when we were really young my mom took us to parliament one day(as one does) and it was some occasion so Mulroney was on the Hill. He was making nice with the public and apparently tried to make nice with my black, immigrant, mother and my adorable toddler baby brother. My 3 year-old brother decided he didn’t like him on site and refused to shake his hand. Lol. There is a photo!
I thought that your rant wasn’t a rant at all Sunny, it was an even and detailed discourse. And FWIW, I remember hissing at Queen Mila one Remembrance Day service (no photographic evidence, you’ll just have to go on trust!)
I’ve been hiding at home in small town Ontario for a year. I’m a pensioner, so I guess it could be worse, but my high risk elderly parents live in Toronto. I haven’t seen them for 8 months. They got their Pfizer shots last month, and I’m scheduled for mine in two weeks. So again, it could be worse, but man, I’m waiting for when it is even just a little bit better!
Who is Queen Mila?
@BayTampaBay – Mila Mulroney, Brian’s social climbing, rich biche of a useless wife. Her frequent shopping sprees became tabloid fodder, with some in the press dubbing her “Imelda” for her love of shoes. Stevie Cameron’s book “On The Take” accused Mila of trying to sell her old furniture to the government for much more than its value.
The problem is that this is a global issue and there is a shortage of vaccines. Very few countries were able to purchase the doses they needed and some. like the US, purchased more than they needed and are hoarding vaccines.
Trump decided to ban the export of vaccines and Biden has not lifted that ban, or undone it. So the US basically has millions of vaccines sitting in shelves inching closer and closer to their expiration date while many countries have very little to no access to vaccines, their health systems are collapsing and their economies are taking a hit for a consecutive year.
If someone has the power to do something that’s Biden.
Can you provide a source for more information on this please?
The only information I’m seeing says that the US government wants to have enough doses for every American by May, which would indicate they don’t yet have enough, much less a surplus, unless something has changed.
Thank you! I’m in Ontario and it is such a mess. Hoping that the international shame of our current vaccine situation dumpster fire will encourage more of the US AZ shots and other to come our way. They are announcing 24/7 AZ pharmacy shots but all near me have run out of doses. So embarrassing, and Ford still had a 30something approval rating.
I don’t understand why they bothered announcing the 24/7 Astrazeneca pharmacy shots when it’s well known the AZ vaccine will be in short supply starting this week. We’re not expecting to get more until June or so. It was all a ploy to get rid of the remaining AZ shots that were sitting in freezers because those 55 and up didn’t want it. Trudeau paid DOUBLE the price for those AZ shots and he sure as hell wanted them in arms. The waiting lists for vaccines are growing. Pfizer and Moderna seem to be going to hotspot locations only. It seems like it will be forever before everyone who wants a shot can get one. Trudeaus has his eyes on September but at this rate who knows?
I say this as an American who hasnt been vaccinated yet but will be soon: the US needs to lift some of its export bans on manufacturing related to rhe vaccines. Pfizer and Moderna have done a fantastic job of hitting their deadlines on production many times surpassing them so i think the worry that we might not have enough in our country if we allow exports is now unfounded.
So many valid points raised by my fellow Canadians above. There have been failures at every level of government, particularly in Ontario. Where I live in Toronto, the pandemic has highlighted existing inequalities in terms of race, income, neighbourhoods, job sectors, transportation and health care.
Given the hospital situation in Ontario, what we need most urgently is vaccines. We need to focus seriously on getting vaccinations to the worst hit neighbourhoods, and job sectors. Around 30% of eligible Canadians are vaccinated, but with one dose. I could go on about the Trudeau government failing to invest in vaccine production until it was too late. We need vaccines now.
Thanks to the U.S. government’s America First policy, no U.S. manufactured vaccines are exported to Canada. Instead, we have received an insufficient trickle of Pfizer and Moderna from Europe. The U.S. has stockpiled millions of doses, and it will likely never use the millions of AstraZeneca doses that hit currently has. Last month, it “loaned” 1.5 million doses to Canada and 2 million to Mexico. I urge the U.S. government to please release more AstraZeneca doses immediately, and in the coming month, please resume exports of the vaccine. We are important friends, allies and trading partners, and Canada exports vital PPE equipment to the U.S. We did not limit those exports during the pandemic and we did not say “Canada First” for that. We cannot get out of this pandemic and reopen our borders until we are all out of it. So again, I urge the U.S. government, please reverse your America First vaccine policy as it is a matter of life and death in our province and our country, and around the world.
To my fellow Canadians, the variants of concern can alter positivity rates very quickly. The U.K variant in Ontario is making younger people sicker, and has significantly contributed to the hospital crisis. We are starting to see this in B.C with the Brazilian variant. So please as much as possible follow distancing protocols in your regions, avoid intra-provincial travel and get vaccinated as soon as it is open to you.
To everyone in the GTA, wherever you can, please help your family, friends and neighbours get vaccinated. Let people know about pop up vaccination spots, make appointments for people who are unable to do so, search around for vaccine availability by calling pharmacies. Here is a helpful site https://twitter.com/VaxHuntersCan.
Yes to all of this. And yesterday Quebec reported the first case of the India variant, so we have that one to worry about as well.
The vaccine hunters are amazing. My friend is not affiliated, but she helped about 12 people find appointments in the last few days. It takes a village!
As I type this, Doug Ford is now blubbering in a press conference to make us feel sorry for him. It’s really gratifying to hear the press pepper him with some tough questions.
Yes Margot! Every vaccine appointment counts and your friend is awesome!
Another important point that I forgot to mention is to help educate those people who are vaccine hesitant. Talk to them about your own experiences, give them reliable information from reliable sources and direct them to their health care providers.
Also in the GTA, call your city councilors to get mobile vaccine units out to hot spot locations such as apartment buildings that house seniors and/or people with disabilities.
Given the failures of government, we need to act at the grass roots level and it has been proven that we can get things done when we do that!
“As I type this, Doug Ford is now blubbering in a press conference to make us feel sorry for him.”
From all I have read on this thread today, I just gotta ask: Is it actually possible to fell sorry for Doug Ford?
Lots of people are falling for the tears. He is super folksy and people really fall for that. His actions (putting a stop to raising the min wage, getting rid of sick days) say “I don’t give a crap about the little guy” but he goes on air and says “folks” a lot and rhapsodizes about junk food, and people just lap it up.
The US has stockpiled millions doses…because it has over 300 million residents. Canada has a fraction of that (not quite 40 million). I’m NOT disagreeing at all that the US should release more AstraZeneca vaccines to other countries who can use it, but the reason the US is “hoarding” vaccines is because there are far more people who need vaccinated.
Sigmund, Not denying prioritizing your population for vaccines. If Hecate is going to write about this in Canada, we have to be honest about all contributing factors. AstraZeneca will likely never be approved in the U.S. It is not needed based on Pfizer & Moderna supplies, plus the negative media on side effects. The unofficial number is that the U.S. has around 30 million doses stockpiled of AZ, and the expiration dates for those doses are fast approaching. Canada and other countries will gladly use them in time if they are released immediately. Also, what I said above was that in about a month’s time, the U.S. will have progressed significantly enough in its vaccination program that it should be in a position to open Pfizer and Moderna exports to us. We hope that happens as soon as the U.S. is able to. Our contracts with those companies are currently not being honoured.
What’s really scary is that breakthrough variants in Canada are becoming the fastest spreading strains of covid and vaccinated people are getting sick. My husband and I have not seen one friend or family member for 8 months – he’s type 1 diabetic and has to be extremely cautious. We got our first jab of Pfizer last week but now have to wait 4 months to get the second. It seems like every week there’s a flight into BC where we live that has someone on board with the virus and the whole f*cking plane load of people have to be contacted and quarantined. It’s like playing whack-a-mole — every time you think you have the thing controlled it pops up somewhere else. All because provincially you have doofuses like Ford, Kenny et al who refuse to lock down completely. The mini-lockdowns happening are useless because many people continue to gather outside of their bubbles, party without masks and act like they’re invincible. Last week Canada registered more covid cases per million than the US. A panel of experts say infections in Ontario could increase by 600% by June if public health measures are weak and vaccination rates do not pick up. Only about 22% of Canadians have now received a first vaccine dose — compare that to 37% in the US. The number of new cases in Ontario could go as high as 30,000 a day in Ontario by June — a province with 14 million people, 38% of the total population of Canada. Things are dire in Canada and if there are millions of doses of AZ about to expire then get them where they’re needed most.
I’m in Alberta, and scheduled to get the AstraZeneca vaccine this morning. I was supposed to have it yesterday, but the pharmacy called me to reschedule without explanation. I hope I actually get it today as planned.
I’m glad that there has been a large number of people taking AstraZeneca and it hasn’t gone to waste here, but I hope I can get it today, and also ge the second dose needed in July.
Update: just got the vaccine! It was painless and I’m just sitting here waiting for 15 minutes to see if I have a reaction.
If the AstraZeneca is available to you in your province, get it.
Congratulations Jordana! Thanks for sharing about your experience and please keep doing so! Also received the AZ vaccine, felt tired for about 24 hours, and no issues otherwise.
A note to Canadians under 40 who want the AZ vaccine. Canada is in talks with the U.S to loan more AZ vaccine. If we are successful, more supply is imminent. The age range for AZ can be lowered below 40 if provinces agree to it and individuals choose informed consent. So if you want the AZ age limit lowered in your province, please be very vocal now. Go on social media, and call/email/text your representatives at all level of gov’t, particularly the provincial level.
Awesome! I had some side effects but nothing major. Some achy muscles and zero desire to get off the couch the next day (which is very unlike me – I’m a putterer). Otherwise, all good!
Also, AZ is approved in Canada for anyone 18 and older and always has been. It was left to the provinces if they wanted to increase the minimum age based on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee’s recommendations.
6 hours later and I’m still feeling great! It was completely painless…no exaggeration! I actually asked the pharmacist if he did it, because I felt nothing.
I just hope its effective against the new double mutant variant, as 1 case was identified in Alberta today 😬
I will keep on masking and social distancing.
It’s probably not surprising if you consider the trade relationship between the United States and Canada. We probably have unparalleled vaccine production capability compared to most Western countries due to our sheer size, so I’m betting Canada likely leans on that access. Since America had the privilege of buying the lion’s share up front, that didn’t leave as much for everybody else. Once the demand falls here, they’re likely going to ship excess out to other countries, and I’m assuming we’ll that Canada and South America will be up first.
It is very true that only a low number are fully vaccinated. Canada has decided to try to get everyone their first dose and has made it so the second dose will be in 4 months. Other countries have spaced the doses out as well. Unfortunately years ago our vaccine making facilities were sold off (under the Conservatives). There is a deal prior to covid for a facility to be built but it was not done soon enough. Until now it hadn’t been a huge issue as we were able to get all our vaccines easily from other countries. Canada has a lot of vaccines on order but companies are slow to fill them and other countries are blocking exports. The US has a lot of Astra Zeneca stock piled that they can’t even use. Hopefully more will be allowed to be released. Ignore someone who starts with the drama teacher stuff. As far as I see it as he is educated and it doesn’t matter what he taught. The pior opposition leader didn’t have the same level of education. (not sure about the new leader) Health falls under the province. The vaccine roll out in Ontario has been bad. Where I live we have a really organized health unit and we are doing really well with cases of covid and vaccine management. Most of the elderly have received at least one dose. Many have had two. Health care at our hospital is being affected as we are getting transfers from other cities. We presently have only one covid patient in our hospital that is from our health unit! Our health unit has been big on education and contact tracing. Isolating any possible contacts and following up with them. Unfortunately the Toronto, Peel and York health units have let everyone down. They are not organized and the vaccine rollout in those areas which have been hard hit, has been bad. Lack of education is a huge factor as well. The population density is also high in these areas. There is varying vaccination rates in different areas. Unfortunately the demographics hardest hit by covid aren’t necessarily the ones who are getting vaccinated.
The closing of play grounds was badly thought out and quickly changed. What the province needs is a curfew like Quebec. A lot of cases stem from people having people over to their houses and also workplace especially at lunch. A curfew might stop the dinner parties and get together people don’t think is a big deal until someone gets covid. Unfortunately I don’t think Ford will ever do that. They also need to start vaccinating the grocery store clerks, the daycare workers and factory workers. They all should have been done long ago.
They also need to some how fix the pharmacy roll out of vaccines. I was actually able to get first my mom vaccinated quickly and then two days ago on the first day it was offered to 40+ my husband and I. But I am good at figuring things out online and had done me research on how best to do it before hand. Most people aren’t. And then put in a language barrier and or lack of transportation it makes it very difficult.
More vaccines as well as education and compliance are the answer. It is just taking too long and unfortunately our provincal government is a mess. Ford is the wrong person for the job and he has yes men and woman working for him. It was really messy how he became the head of his party and if Elliott or Mulroney had the job we would be in a far better place. (or Wynne as she is a force)
Sorry this rambled. Hope there isn’t too many typos
Re: getting an appointment for 40+, I had more success on the phone than trying to get an appointment online, just FYI.
My advice for scoring a pharmacy appointment is try the small pharmacies. Everyone tries shopper and Rexall. And follow vaccine hunters Canada on Facebook and twitter
I’m in the BC interior and drug stores are vaccinating their customers, and then others ‘if’ they have extra.
I too had far more success on the phone getting an appointment than I did online.
Oh Hecate, if you wanted a super thread of comments, this will guarantee it! We Canadians are mostly all at home, online, we are pissed off, and need to vent! Thanks for the coverage.
The anger on Twitter a few days ago in Ontario was unreal! We really are collectively upset at this situation.
Yes we are angry! When Canadians finally let loose, watch out!
We are justifiably angry! After Ford announced those insane restrictions and expanded police powers last Friday, I love how so many disparate groups in Ontario mobilized so that in less than 24 hours, Ford had to reverse his position. The media, medical community, legal community, parent groups, various industries and even police unions (!). Our governments may have failed us, but Canadians are awesome!
Lisa B – this is one of the great things is seeing all the advocacy!
My Twitter feed has just been this:
1) Angry people from Ontario during daylight hours.
2) Angry people from India during late at night hours.
3) Angry people from the UK at all hours, screaming about the European football league thing.
Suffice it to say, it’s been an interesting few days.
delete
Wow, I knew we in the US were privileged with our vaccine rollout once the Biden administration got in place but this post gives me a whole new appreciation for the Biden administration. I didn’t realize it was so bad in Canada, our mainstream news really doesn’t cover all that. And it sounds like this Doug Ford guy whose name I didn’t know until today is a complete nitwit and has no business being a politician (like many politicians, unfortunately). The news is already saying that the demand for the vaccine here has slowed since it has opened up to everybody 16+. The Trumpers/hyper Christians and other fringe groups will never get the vaccine ever so I really hope in the weeks to come, the US starts shipping surplus vaccines to Canada and other countries. We are hoarding all these vaccines and we have more than enough to go around at this rate. We should be helping our northern neighbors and one of our greatest allies.
Also thanks to all the Canadian CBers for your insightful and informative comments. I learned a lot about Canada reading them.
agree with all of this.
Google Doug and Rob Ford. What a family.
The Fords are horrible people — I can’t believe one became Toronto’s mayor and the other the Premier of Ontario.
Also for anyone interested in reading about the Toronto Ford family:
Crazy Town by Robyn Doolittle
She was one of the reporters who worked on the Toronto Star story about Rob Ford along with Daniel Dale who many now know for his tweets about the Trump admin!
That book is something else. Rob Ford not only had a DUI and crack habit, but brought a prostitute to the mayor’s office after hours and beat and threatened to kill his wife. He worked 3-4 hours PER DAY! These are the people we are electing..
Alberta is about 2 weeks behind Ontario and also run by an idiot. Kenney does not care about anyone or anything. Grades 7-12 went online today for 2 weeks because we have so many cases in schools in our two major cities. We are out of substitute teachers.
I am 1 year too young for the new AZ shot, so I am hoping in a month I will be eligible for anything. Our vaccine roll out has been a joke. Trudeau secured vaccines but left it up to the provinces to doll them out. With a year lead time, the conservatives still have no plan. They just kind of toss up on twitter when a new group can start booking. Pharmacies are cancelling appointments now because the government is cancelling the shipments they were expecting and sending them to walk in centers.
When it comes to Federal politics all I will say is I am glad it is Trudeau in office and not Scheer or O’Toole. If we had a conservative PM I don’t even want to imagine what it would be like here.
Trudeau didn’t “leave it ” to the provinces, the Canada Health Act did.
What’s infuriating me here in Toronto is that there are healthy people who now qualify for an AZ vaccine who are waiting to get Moderna or Pfizer. If there is any risk, absolutely wait for one of the others. Otherwise do your research, do your part, suck it up and get the shot. And leave the Pfizer/Moderna ones for those who really need that option.
And yes, huge props to Vaccine Hunters on Twitter for all their hard work!
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. While I really really want Americans to get vaccinated ASAP, it feels like the US is flexing its might in a way that seems unfair. The pandemic was handled so badly under Trump, and there’s a segment of our population that just does not give a care about being responsible. It felt like this huge powerful country just dropped the ball.
But then the vaccines were created. And America (under Biden, thank goodness for the man) strong-armed to acquire a huge portion of the vaccines, just because its America and we have the resources/power to do it. And some Americans are refusing to get the vaccine, while fighting mask mandates. Meanwhile, there are countries being hit much worse than us with coronavirus deaths and economic hardship, with far less vaccines. It just feels gross to me.
I know it’s so much more nuanced. Hoping that Canadians can get fully vaccinated quickly!
Abby, Your government planned and invested in vaccine manufacturing, so the U.S. has the capabilities to produce more than enough vaccine for its population and deliver those vaccines effectively. I personally don’t view it as flexing and understand any nation wanting to take care of its population. Canada failed with vaccine manufacturing in particular, and also with many aspects of delivery. Enough Canadians have gone off here about those failures. But parts of our country are in a critical third wave, and we need vaccine supply urgently. Re America First, Canada and other nations are asking for some flexibility to release immediately those doses that that the U.S. government knows it will not use, then open exports as soon as is possible once the U.S. reaches its targeted domestic supply and levels of vaccination. I will say the same thing to the Canadian government when the time comes that we have a surplus or a stockpile about to expire.
Well said. And Canada has promised to contribute it’s own surplus to Covax once it has taken care of its own.
We will have a higher vaccine “uptake” than the USA, which will help once we get through this.
Thanks for the input, this is helpful for me to understand what’s happening! I am still reading through the comments and learning a lot.
I spent the last 5 yrs working in California. I came home to Canada (ontario) last April. I feel like I should fly back to California and get my vaccine. No hassle and what not. I can also choose the vaccine I want and don’t have to risk taking AstraZeneca and Moderna. Justin is twit. I am glad I didn’t vote for him.
Moderna has not been associated with any risk of the rare and atypical clotting disorder associated with AstraZeneca. It is an mRNA vaccine just like Pfizer.
If you vote in Canada then you know you don’t vote directly for Prime Minister or for Premier.
Go back to California and don’t vote at all in the future, thanks.
It’s absolutely all about the US hoarding the vaccines. The EU collectively bought and reserved vaccines but the US paid more and got ahead in line that way. Same for the UK. It’s getting better now because the weekly number of doses are finally starting to increase but chances are most of my friends won’t get their first dose until August and second dose until a month later. And EU countries – and Canada – are rich, for the most part. The situation in, for example, India is devastating. So many countries are completely effed until Biden lifts the ban on vaccine exports and the patents go free and more efforts are made to help people globally.
Justin Trudeau and the rest of the Canadian government (including good old Doug Ford) were slow to react. Why are international flights from Brazil and India still landing in Toronto? India is a super shot spot as well as Brazil. Our “quarantine” measures are not working. How else are the damn variants getting in? If we had vaccines earlier, so many wouldn’t have gotten sick and died. This is ridiculous. I am surprised that our best friend America didn’t help us. As Canadians, we understand America has to vaccinate it’s own first, but you guys have a huge surplus. I saw on the news yesterday that vaccination clinics in America have way more vaccine than they need. Is it all being thrown out?
In ontario, the Ford government has been slow and reactive from the start. They didn’t get the basics right: test, trace, and isolate. That’s still a big part of the problem. Paid sick leave helps with “isolate.”
Trudeau is banning flights from India and Pakistan for the next 30 days. So he’s doing something. He also banned flights from the Uk when news of the variant came out. The main problem is that community spread is already here and that’s a provincial issue and places like Ontario have utterly failed at contact tracing.
I’m in BC and I’m incredibly frustrated. I’ve been following this since it started or at least before Chinese new year 2020 (because I had planned a big trip to Japan and Australia for April 2020 for myself and my kids so I was watching this like a slow motion car crash) and I felt some relief early on when Canada kept pre-buying tons of doses and now for these last few months almost NOTHING is happening. There’s a huge different between what they are vaguely saying and what is happening. Can America share more please?? If you’re at the stage where there are places where you’re only waiting for anti-vaxers to get it, can you just give us your doses and then we can open the border sooner?
I hear a ton about all our snowbirds just flying to Florida to not have to wait and I’m finding it really really frustrating. I’m seeing seemingly foreigners around without masks here in downtown Victoria, I’m seeing people from out of province hiding their license plates. Can we just get the vaccine already? /end of rant.
JJ I’m in Victoria too. We’re full of out-of-province licence plates and campgrounds are booked solid with many non-BC residents. US tourists are still heading here in droves, ostensibly to get to Alaska but there’s only one route they can take legally and have to have a travel permit visible in their vehicles. Lots are being stopped by police and sent back who don’t have a permit to travel through BC and aren’t on the correct route. Flights from India, UK, Latin America are still arriving. My hubby and I are over 65 and just got our Pfizer vaccine but now have to wait 4 months for the next one. We haven’t traveled anywhere and haven’t seen anyone in over 8 months and don’t intend to until we get jab #2. I wish people would just be f*cking conscientious about restrictions and stay the f*ck home. My rant over.
I’ve been talking to my friends at home, and up until a couple of weeks ago, there were people who were still heading out to go f-cking ski in Whistler. I know a bunch of people who did that and wound up getting COVID bc they refused to stay in their designated bubble. The most egregious example is of someone who went to Whistler, then tried to HIDE THE FACT THAT THEY DID after they got COVID.
My dad is over 65, and he works in an essential service. He has his first dose, but just like you, his next one isn’t due for 4 months. To say I’m worried is an understatement. And this is in a province that has, comparatively, weathered the storm that is the pandemic a little bit better than the others have.
We still have Dr Henry, snort. I really like her and was thrilled with her leadership when the vaccine hit. Fast forward and year and everything is a ‘should’ We ‘should’ stay at home’ ‘we should only rent campsites to people from our area. ‘We are refusing reservations from out-of-towners at motels (not). I’m tired of her “do the right thing” shtick. I go out twice every seven days because I have to. I’m fast, keep my movements economical and get home as fast as I can. I counted 170 Albertan license plates on the highway in my 5 block walk to the bank. My town is 4 hours from Vancouver and 4 hours from Calgary with a busy highway. The local drive in was half Albertan license plates. Dr. Henry really needs to end cross-border travel for the next 3-4 weeks, instead of saying, you should just stay home. It just might be safer for Albertans to stay away for their own sake’s for a while.
@Lady D, yes. I’ve heard a lot of criticism of her, and John Horgan as well, for endlessly moralizing on what people “should” do, and how we “should” take our responsibilities seriously, or else it’s really our own fault for getting COVID-19 being the implication of that. Putting this on the people, rather than trying to lead from the front, is what got everyone else into trouble over the last year and a half, and it’s a shame that Dr. Henry can’t see that.
Same, JJ. I too live in BC. A lot of people I know have contracted covid in the last 2 weeks so I am eager for my shot. They weren’t out partying and were all very responsible so now I’m praying we get more vaccine soon. The third wave is real and it ain’t pretty.
Frustratingly, federal government funding of labs that would have been used to develop a vaccine was discontinued under the, wait for it, Mulroney Conservatives, many years ago. Having said that, no government, Liberal or Conservative, reinstated that funding in the following years.
We are grateful for any support we are receiving from other countries.
Hecate – thank you for covering this. It seems there are many Americans who are on Canada’s side in helping its next door neighbour through this mess.
Yes! Thank you to all our American CB friends who are voicing their support for us Canadians!
Canadian here, and this thread made me cry. Thank you for caring. <3
I was really interested in everyone’s comments. I hope this turns around soon for our northern neighbors!
I feel like this crisis has really highlighted how we need to tackle these things globally.
Yes, only 2% have both shots, but all provinces have now shifted to a larger margin between shots (4 months), and more than 25% of Canadians have had their first shot, with almost 250,000 being vaccinated per day. With 80%+ protection after one dose, I’d argue Canada is actually doing pretty good on the vaccination front.
A couple of notes for everyone trying to get the AZ through registering online with Shoppers. 1. They have a list of stores taking walk ins which apparently is news to many of the locations but if you go in and ask about they may give you the shot then or possibly take down your info in case of cancellations which is how I got my shot yesterday. 2. They say you should register again after a week to be safe. Good luck everyone!
If you register on the Shoppers site, they will also check Loblaws stores near you that may have appointments (Zehrs, RCSS too). Sobeys pharmacies in some places are releasing week to week. My parents registered in a small town in ON and got first shot in a little over a week.
People should blaming the US as if it’s hoarding all the vaccines and they should instead examine the facts. The size of the U.S is 10x of Canada – think 350+ million versus 35 million. And the US has only fully vaccinated 25% of its population. If you compare that to countries like UK, Israel or U.A.E where vaccination rates are 70%, then the US has a long way to go. Also remember the US government spent billions of dollars subsidizing vaccine research which allowed for Pfizer and Moderna to come to market in a short period of time. In return, it was able to purchase enough doses for its population. People can’t have it both ways – blame governments for not controlling the virus spread and then blame again because it has all the vaccine. Part of the reason the US economy is growing again is because of vaccination and things reopening.
I have said this above. The U.S. has warehoused vaccine doses that have imminent expiry dates (i.e. AstraZeneca). The U.S. will not use these doses as AZ is not approved, nor is it likely to be ever. So it makes sense to release these doses to a country like Canada, which is in dire need of any vaccine due to a very tough third wave. This is not an accusation of hoarding, it is a fact and the size of our population is not relevant. Also as stated, once the U.S. has reached its vaccine supply target and vaccination program target, then please open up exports to other countries. Any post about the shortcoming of Canada’s vaccination program has to include these facts relating to the America First Policy. While we are on the subject of facts, Canada also spent billions on contracts for more than enough vaccine for our population. Those contracts are currently not being honoured with promised deliveries from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca & J&J, all approved in our country.
We have a stockpile of 30 million AstraZeneca doses sitting in Ohio. They aren’t approved for use here and they’re just sitting there. We are absolutely hoarding vaccines. That stockpile could literally vaccinate all of Canada and we’re just sitting on them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/us/politics/coronavirus-astrazeneca-united-states.html
Biden said yesterday he’s looking at sharing more of those doses, we need to get on with it. The sooner our closest neighbors are vaccinated, the better for all of us.
Thank you Kebbie. I would ask Canada to do the same if the situation were reversed. And I will ask Canada to share if and when we have surplus. It is very tough going in the GTA right now and these vaccines can help stop this terrible wave and save lives. Thanks to everyone who expressed support!
Afaik, it was Germany who founded the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-09/pfizer-vaccine-s-funding-came-from-berlin-not-washington
The US committed to buy a ton of doses but so did other countries.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
From what I understand, the German government gave BioNTech $445 million last September to help expand and speed up manufacturing capabilities in Germany. But Pfizer and BioNTech were actually starting human trials of their vaccine in April 2020, well before Operation Warp Speed or Germany’s funding.
The purchase deal with the US was huge and it put us at the head of the line to get it, but the vaccine would exist with or without us. It would also exist with or without Germany’s funding (though possibly not as quickly.)
They specifically didn’t want government funding for their research and development because they didn’t want the interference that would accompany that.
Thank you so much for this. I was actually scratching my head while reading these comments. Everyone is talkung about Pfizer while it was Biontech who developed the vaccine. There are a lot of countries who ordered way before the US but are still waiting because of the export ban. Canada was in fact one of the first countries ordering vaccines.
@Laughing To my knowledge, that’s not correct. The UK announced a deal with Pfizer/BioNTech two days before the US, but Canada and all other countries were in the weeks following.
And some people just say Pfizer as shorthand for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It’s the same vaccine.
@Kebbie, I am pretty certain you are right on your timeline. From all I’ve read, the UK and the US signed the deals first, with Canada some weeks after (see Professor Amir Attaran for a good breakdown on this) and the EU after that. My understanding is that, whilst some EU members were ready to sign, certain key players were not and kept negotiating, hence the delay. This is why, when questioned about our priority in procurement, after questions kept coming up about how late we were to sign in Canada, we were told that we “weren’t at the back of the line”, along with a lot of ‘nothing to see here’ obfuscation about having ordered the most doses of any country in the world. SMDH.
This US ban on exporting vaccines, does it apply to your regular childhood vaccines as well or just the covid vaccines? If Canada doesn’t manufacture any of their own vaccines bc they don’t have the infrastructure to do so, and there is a blanket ban on all vaccines going to Canada, I can imagine you’d be dealing with childhood vaccine shortages and kids being behind on their shots, as well. I wonder if a lot of the places that manufacture childhood vaccines(in the US or anywhere else) have switched to covid vaccines and if that’s causing a problem anywhere as well.
Amy, This is a very good question. Canada does have small vaccination production facilities, mainly owned by foreign Pharmaceutical companies. We produce some vaccines like childhood illness vaccines and we import them as well. We don’t have shortages because the amounts required at any given time are much smaller than what we are seeing with COVID vaccines. The COVID vaccine problem was years in the making for Canada. Since the SARS crisis in the early 2000’s, our federal government ignored calls from the medical community for a national vaccine strategy, which includes ensuring domestic supply in large quantities. Bottom line, this was a huge and tragic oversight by our Federal government which has now been brought to light by this pandemic. When the COVID pandemic hit, in order to vaccinate everyone over 16 twice, we had no choice but to spend billions entering into multiple contracts with global producers for vaccine imports. We also provided research funding. As those producers are outside of our country, we have little recourse when contracts are not honoured. The America First Policy relates to COVID vaccines only. It makes sense on many levels as countries have to look after their populations, and the amount of vaccines required to vaccinate any nation is unprecedented. But as the U.S. or any country reaches surplus levels of vaccines, these countries need consider helping other nations where it is possible. Of course, our federal government is now investing in vaccine production and a national strategy, which is obviously too little and too late. As COVID vaccination production continues to ramp up and people receive vaccines, it is very likely that Canada will eventually have a surplus as well. We will also need to help out globally when that happens.
Trudeau is a JOKE!!!!
I just want to chime in and say I agree, and also that Ford is a joke. You criticize one and someone pops up saying, “what about Ford?” or ”what about Trudeau?” The truth is that we have been failed by both our Federal and, for Ontario at least, our Provincial governments in different ways. Let’s quit the whataboutism and get to solutions.
Amen, I live in mtl a couple hours from Ontario. I know about Ford but can I please complain about Trudeau sometimes without random accusations that I’m not criticizing Ford , since as I never voted for him and never will and don’t live there? If nothing else they are being so Ontario-centric lol! And the random accusation above that if anyone mentions Trudeau was a teacher they are conservative shills plus nothing else they say can be true? That’s going a little far. People can be wrong Or biased or judgy about one thing and also mention some other things Which are categorically true. It’s not that complicated
@KatinaD, that’s not what people said up above at all, and you know it. No one said mentioning that Trudeau is a teacher makes them a Conservative shill, what they said was that referring to Trudeau disparagingly as “just a teacher” signifies a level of disrespect for teachers that is unnecessary and uncalled for. For all of his flaws and follies, him being a kindergarten teacher is not one of them.
Trying to sneer or condescend abt his capacity to lead based on that is what makes people think that the person doing so is a Conservative shill, bc goodness knows, the Conservatives don’t really go around having the greatest of respect for teachers on a good day, do they. If people are wrong about the person saying that, that’s fine, but when you start saying things that veer a bit too close to the sort of rhetoric that Conservatives employ, while insisting that you’re not a Con yourself, it’s not a bad idea to try and introspect on that. But that’s just my 2c.
But nice attempt at trying to rewrite what was written in the comments to concern troll though.
A someone did say each of those things up thread. I didn’t get it from anywhere else! Nor did I change the meaning. And I’m not one of the ones who was saying he’s just a teacher, but for those who are, let’s say, judgy like that, it does not mean they don’t have facts in their comments, people are way too passionate about defending him, let’s be realistic. And I’ll probably even vote for him next time as there isn’t an alternative which I trust even though he’s corrupt. My point is people can have criticisms of him even the same criticisms as the conservatives have and it doesn’t mean those aren’t facts and it doesn’t mean we are a are conservative. I don’t follow any conservative Canadian media or subreddits and I’m not on fb and none of my circle is conservative. but I could easily have the same observation as them, why not, when we are both observing current events
Appreciate the coverage, CB — a lot of us watching and waiting here in Canada! Hope the President follows through.
As an American this has been a fascinating thread! I really hope Biden lifts the export ban soon and we can help our neighbors —there are a lot of people and US senators pushing him to do that now that we have enough supply for everyone.
That we have an export ban at all is disappointing but it’s hard to overstate the trauma of the trump years and the flaming dumpster fire Biden inherited. He has profoundly harmed our democratic norms, it was not just some entertaining reality show buffoonery. Our country was and still is dangerously on the precipice of descending into an authoritarian regime, our legislature’s legitimacy is still hanging by a thread, and Biden has a lot of healing and trust to rebuild in his constituents if he has any hope of retaining some semblance of democracy over the next decade. I wish we didn’t have to hoard our vaccines, but the analogy of putting on our air mask first makes sense. Say what you will about the US, the criticisms are not wrong, but it would also not be good in the long run for Canada to have a literal hostile dictatorship with nuclear weapons on its southern border.
The export ban is fully understandable though. Frankly, it’s not the US’s responsibility to have to pick up the slack in this regard, even though it’s incredibly touching that so many people are concerned and eager to help. The real lesson that needs to be learned here is for Canada, not the US. This is the fault of our own home-grown right-wing fascists, of which Doug Ford is one. The man LITERALLY decided to not give people paid sick leave, but thought that SENDING OUT THE POLICE to interrogate every single person who is found outside on the streets to determine if they have a reason to be there would be a good idea. He was trying to institute a f-cking police state here, and he got scorned for it, like he SHOULD.
I’m in Ontario. Doug Ford is incredibly irresponsible.
It’s very difficult to get a vaccine in Ontario. The criteria of who gets them wasn’t scientifically backed. Essential workers, teachers and daycare staff weren’t anywhere near the top of the list.
There are groups popping up called “Vaccine Hunters” to help people find vaccines. There’s no central booking system so people needn’t check every pharmacy individually.
My daughter’s daycare had an outbreak. So far 4 children and three staff with many more tests coming back over the next few days. We’re waiting for results and the scratch in my throat is making me so anxious.
It didn’t have to be like this.
Doug Ford won’t give paid sick days. Over a year into the pandemic and he doesn’t understand why the virus is spreading through warehouses and factories where hourly workers have to choose between staying home and feeding their families.
A two year old with underlying issues died of Covid on Tuesday here in BC.
That’s so incredibly sad.
Off topic, but I love this thread full of angry yet polite Canadians. What is a rant to us, is like an informative discourse to others Lolol!
Toronto was the nicest (people-wise/driving-wise) city I have ever visited. And I am from a supposedly friendly state. No comparison at all.
I always have a soft spot for my northern neighbors.
@Christin, bless you for saying that Toronto has the nicest people driving-wise, bc anyone who lives in Toronto (and has driven on the horror that is the 401 highway) will tell you that the city is full of the biggest ahole drivers in the country.
New Yorker here living in Toronto. I think I have frightened many a Canadian with a horn. Toot. Lol
“It’s difficult to figure out why this is happening.” — It’s not difficult. It’s actually quite easy, bc the article talks abt it briefly right here: “A key problem is that Canada, unlike the United States, has limited domestic capacity to make coronavirus vaccines.”
30 years ago, Canada was a leading producer of vaccines, and a global leader in vaccine research. There used to a government-owned laboratory (Connaught Labs), that was funded by tax payer revenue, that was producing and supplying vaccines, not just for Canada’s needs, but for meeting the needs of inoculation efforts around the world. It no longer exists today, bc the Conservative govt led by Brian Mulroney as PM privatized it and sold it to a foreign company, and we’re continuing to pay for that right-wing govt’s greed, and complete lack of foresight.
Doug Ford is a member of the provincial Conservative party in Ontario. Jason Kenney, the premier of Alberta, another province that’s mismanaged their response and has slid into complete disaster, is also a member of the Conservatives. Francois Legault, the premier of Quebec, while not a member of the Conservatives, is a member of Coalition Avenir Quebec, a separatist party that will insist it’s not conservative or right-leaning in any way, all while screeching itself into oblivion about how immigrants are ruining the cultural fabric of Quebec.
These are the dipsh-ts in charge right now in various places in Canada. And what they all have in common is that they are all the leaders of right-wing, conservative govts that are in power in these provinces. The answer to the question of who is responsible for this sh-t is clear, and it is the same answer as it is in every other part of the world. It’s short-sighted right-wing govts, that do not believe in science, that do not believe the govt has a duty towards the people it was elected to represent. This is what you get when you prioritize the interests of private businesses and corporate share holders first. People suffer, whether that’s tomorrow, or 30 years into the future.
The dismantling of Connaught Labs was a start in the continuing Conservative party efforts to privatize Canada’s healthcare system. Trudeau has signed a deal to start producing vaccines domestically later this year, which will be a huge step forward to getting back some of the capabilities we used to have before. But this whole vaccine shortage is a good lesson into the fact that universal healthcare is not enough. It needs to be supported by 1) consistent govt investment in public health overall, both on the provincial and federal level, and 2) universal pharmacare, universal dental and vision coverage, as well as universal coverage of mental health treatment of every kind. While the system is great in Canada, it’s not perfect. It has its gaps that need to be filled.
I live in BC. Three members of my family have managed to get their first dose, but have been told that it will be at least another 4 months before they can get their second. I’m in school in the States, and I’m getting my second dose next week. I’m the youngest person in my family, and the ONLY PERSON to be fully vaccinated. It’s bonkers bc I, in no way, expected that to be the case.
Also, while it’s interesting to look at Canada right now, the real story of the pandemic at the moment is the tsunami of uptick in cases in India. India is a huge global producer of the COVID-19 vaccine, and they’ve stopped exporting them to focus on domestic needs. There, again, is another failure in public health, also caused by the utter lack of care on the part of a right-wing ruling govt. The moral of this story is, and should always be, do not vote for conservatives, ANYWHERE.
Well said! While all political parties pander to varying degrees to those who funded their election campaigns, the Conservatives are the worst because they are more closely aligned ideologically and practically with corporations who only give a damn about money, not people.
Maybe I’m getting the wrong impression but seems like the US really is hoarding vaccine, but maybe they’re worried about another wave. Also, in general, seems like Biden is not prioritizing foreign ties and hasn’t exactly rushed to reverse a lot of Trump’s foreign policy. He seems to be slow walking it back, whether it’s vaccine diplomacy or refugees. It seems some countries that were handling or at least weathering Covid relatively well are now getting hit hard, like Japan, India and Canada
The US produces its vaccines domestically, has the capacity to do so, and them prioritizing domestic needs over exporting internationally is not necessarily a bad thing. India is another country that produces and exports COVID-19 vaccines, but their failure to prioritize domestic needs has led to a vaccine shortage that’s prompting the country, a leading exporter of COVID-19 vaccines, to import doses from other countries. So I don’t see this as the USA hoarding vaccines, as much as it’s just them prioritizing their needs, like they should.
I’m all for countries lending each other a helping hand, but what Canada needs to do is develop the domestic infrastructure to produce its own vaccines.
A, I agree that prioritizing one’s own population is not a bad thing. And yes, the Canadian gov’t failed us big time in not having a national vaccination policy, which would have ensured large scale production capabilities. That is underway now, but obviously too late. Most of Canada is in this very bad third wave, so we really can use the help with vaccines if the U.S. can spare the ones it is not using and will not use. Every nation will eventually need to be mindful of their vaccine surpluses. You can only have a surplus for so long because vaccines have expiry dates. L4frimaire is correct that more waves could be coming. We all have to focus on the variants of concern. The UK variant is a big contributor to the spike in Ontario. Younger people (below 60) get sicker from it, end up in hospital more, and this variant is easier to catch. We did not see this in the prior two waves. Then there is the South African variant, the Brazilian variant, and this new Indian variant. So anyone, anywhere, if you are able to get vaccinated, please do so as soon as you can.
Per the BBC – “[Canada] decided to invest in vaccines from European factories, afraid that the US, under former president Donald Trump, would issue export bans”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56035306
Blame Trump!
It seems with most Americans that want one getting the vaccine, the US can afford to share now?
Wow Canadians. We really are frustrated. 279 comments, damn.
We ARE. Lol American living in Toronto thinking about going to states for a month to get vaccinated. Ontario is a mess and I blame old Dougie for it. This is not Trudeau’s fault.
Thank you American friends! Us GenX Canadians (40-54) are taking the AZ vaccine happily…it’s become a GenX movement!!
Here we are now, vaccinate us!🎶
I am on PR in Canada and waiting on Dual Citizenship test. I don’t want to get AZ because it isn’t approved in the states and since I plan to eventually go back and forth, I want one accepted in both. Plus, I can let someone else get my slot. I am 40 btw Gen X here.
I thought part of the issue is that they committed to contribute part of their supply to lower-income countries and the US hasn’t done that?
I am surprised how quickly it turned around in the US too – didn’t think I’d be even eligible for a vaccine shot until late summer, now I’ve already had my first dose!
My dual-citizen cousin who lives in Austria is considering trying to come to the US to get her vaccine as the EU is lagging so much as well.
I saw a graph the other day showing how comparable countries are doing with vaccinations.
The US and the UK — which both have their own vaccine — are #1 and #2, and it’s not even close.
But #3 is Canada, followed by about four other countries who are roughly at the same place we are.
So it’s not bad, not really.
But it is frustrating because we Y’ALL ARE RIGHT THERE, KICKING COVID-BUTT WITHOUT US.
i’m in bc and got my first shot a few days ago at age 51, *only* because i’m considered “clinically extremely vulnerable” due to asthma and a history of pneumonia (otherwise i’m still too young, as it’s being done by age). my 21-year-old, with the same pre-existing conditions, whose young life has been put on hold for over a year and who has thus suffered a great deal psychologically, socially, and financially, still has to wait – possibly for weeks. once his age group finally *does* get vaccinated, it’s still at least a four month wait for the next dose.
i don’t blame the federal government; we bought/reserved vaccines at the very beginning: the producers have chosen not to honour their agreements. canada *will* start producing vaccines, from what i’ve heard, which is good, as i don’t think this will be a “one and done” thing (i imagine we’ll all need boosters and shots for future variants!)
bc’s doctor spokesperson is practically worshipped here, but i can never forgive her very late recommendation of mask-wearing, and her wishy-washy messaging about schools and travel (i work in a school, and it’s been an absolute nightmare for school workers – especially at the elementary level where they’ve JUST finally *suggested* that students should maybe wear masks. 🙄😖)