Vaccination campaign must be in high gear

Think back to mid-December. The biggest fear at that time was that Canada was, to quote Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole, “at the back of the pack” in terms of receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

O’Toole and others, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, rained fire and brimstone down on the Trudeau Liberal government for having somehow dropped the ball on ensuring adequate vaccine supply.

How things can change in a few short weeks. It turns out the federal government was not at the back of the line. It was, in fact, in very good position to get vaccines early, and to get a wider variety of vaccines in greater quantities than almost any other country.

And yet, Canada is not in a good place. And Ontario is at the back of the pack in terms of getting vaccinations out of freezers and into the arms of citizens. Canada has fallen behind countries like Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom in vaccine distribution, even though the federal government supplied vaccine to provinces.

The total number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people for Canada was 0.3, as of Jan. 2. In the U.K. it was 1.39 (as of Dec. 27). For the U.S., it was 1.28. And for Israel, it was 12.59.

Biostatistician Ryan Imgrund, who works with Ottawa Public Health, told Global News: “It’s an utter failure when you have three-fourths of our vaccines still sitting inside of freezers.”

Why? What has gone wrong so far, and when will it be fixed?

We actually know the answers, thanks to a host of public health officials. In Ontario, where just 42,419 people had been vaccinated between Dec. 14 and the beginning of this week, the problem is a lack of planning and flawed decision-making.

Various experts have said that vaccines should have gone into long-term-care facilities at the outset, but that is only happening now.

Originally the province held back to ensure there would be enough vaccine for people already vaccinated to get the necessary second dose. That has now changed.

Ontario also shut down vaccinations over Christmas, which the province now admits was a mistake. Personnel administering vaccinations are burned out, nearing exhaustion, but countless others are waiting to be asked to help.

Belatedly, Ford acknowledged the problem, admitting to a “a few bumps in the road.” He pledged to ramp up the vaccination campaign and as of earlier this week that appeared to have started. But we have a long way to go.

Ford has committed to seeing all hot zone LTC residents vaccinated by Jan. 23. But he has yet to commit to a date when all Ontario LTC residents will be protected, and considering the extent to which outbreaks are happening in all long-term care and retirement settings, he needs to do that urgently.

Here is what numerous experts say: If Ontario had done its job from the start, we would be out of vaccines by now. Empty freezers should be the goal, and we’re a long way from that.

Instead of acknowledging that, Ford is minimizing the problem and looking for every opportunity to blame Ottawa for what are really his own government’s shortcomings.

Ottawa has a job, and that is to keep the vaccines flowing.

It is the job of provincial governments to get the vaccines into arms. Ford would be wise to invest the energy he is now using to bash Ottawa into Ontario’s vaccination campaign. His finger-pointing isn’t helping get the job done.