Pull out stops on vaccines
If governments don’t pick up the pace on vaccinations — by a lot — they’re simply not going to get most Canadians inoculated against COVID- 19 by the end of this year.
It’s simple math, as set out over the weekend by the Star’s Kenyon Wallace. The current pace of about 23,400 vaccinations a day has to be increased by 6.5 times in order to get a critical mass of the population their shots by Dec. 31.
In fact, the federal government’s goal is more ambitious: it has committed to vaccinating every adult Canadian who wants a COVID- 19 shot by the end of September. For that to happen, the pace will have to increase even more.
That’s challenging enough, but the real problem is that neither goal is good enough. Waiting until the end of 2021, or even until the end of September, for enough people to be inoculated to defeat this disease is just not ambitious enough.
When the first vaccines appeared ahead of schedule in December, there was so much public relief at this unexpected sign of hope that it seemed churlish to push for more. Canada was among the very first countries to get doses of the precious Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
But three weeks later the situation is much darker, and it’s clear the federal government must do absolutely everything in its power to advance the target date for getting vaccines to most Canadians.
The second wave of COVID- 19 is bad — very bad. On Tuesday we expect to get a more precise idea of just how bad when Ontario releases new projections for the future course of the pandemic. But already the province is seeing well over 3,000 new cases a day
( Monday’s seven- day average was 3,555
— up a staggering 90 per cent in the past month). Hospitals warn they soon may not be able to treat everyone who gets critically ill. And we’re facing even more restrictions on working, shopping and moving around.
We are, to be blunt, losing the fight right now against COVID19. All the pleading in the world from public health officials for people to stay home, wear masks, wash hands, etc., etc. hasn’t worked. The numbers are off the charts and the only weapons left in the public health arsenal are the blunt instruments of lockdown and closure.
Can we really wait nine full months, until the end of September, for enough Canadians to be vaccinated to give confidence that the pandemic is under control? Under current trends, no.
The federal government’s plan calls for just six million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be delivered in the first three months of this year — enough to inoculate three million people in the most exposed groups, such as long- term- care residents and health workers. That’s to be followed by a greatly expanded program starting in April, reaching up to half the population.
But that lags well behind some other countries, including Israel, Britain, Denmark and the United States. Canada now ranks 11th in a global comparison of doses administered per 100 people. To put things in perspective, though, it’s just ahead of Germany and miles ahead of France — but the point isn’t to win some theoretical battle among nations. It’s to get the job done as soon as possible so we can get back to normality.
Ottawa may have been slow off the mark last summer in striking deals with pharmaceutical companies for delivery of vaccines, as some critics have charged. But that’s water under the bridge. The key thing now is to do everything possible ( including paying more, if necessary) to advance the delivery schedule for existing vaccines and clear the way for others that still haven’t been approved.
Procurement Minister Anita Anand appears to understand this. She says “the sky’s the limit” on what she’s prepared to do to get more vaccine doses into the country, more quickly.
That’s good to hear, and we look forward to hearing details of a new and improved plan very soon. At this point the country simply can’t afford any delay on getting vaccines into arms.
We are, to be blunt, losing the fight right now against COVID- 19