Put most vulnerable at top of priority list

Re: “Cancer patients in chemotherapy disappointed they won’t get vaccine booster sooner,” May 1.

I hope the B.C. government is bracing itself for a deluge of complaints to the ombudsperson about the fairness of its decision to refuse second (or, in some cases, even first) vaccinations to those people facing catastrophic medical challenges.

How high are they willing to place the bar for those already struggling to maintain their own well-being?

Health Minister Adrian Dix should discuss this with cabinet immediately. Even some of his provincial counterparts in Alberta and Ontario, who are on the conservative side of the political spectrum, have seen the light for the clinically extremely vulnerable.

The vaccine and boosters are free, cheap and available. As a former registered nurse, my opinion is that if Dix fails to give these individuals priority, he will end with very sick people, occupying already overtaxed ICU hospital beds, which certainly cannot be his intent.

This is a pandemic in which Canada has largely measured its response by caring for the most vulnerable in our communities, targeting its vaccine rollout based on age and vulnerability.

Dix should do the compassionate, dignified and right public-health thing: Reconsider his refusal to honour the lives of those struggling the most to preserve theirs, by giving the doses needed to boost their hopes.

Dulcie McCallum Former B.C. ombudsman Halifax