As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, threatening a fourth wave, health officials report that the vast majority of infections involve people who have not been vaccinated.
The Interior Health Authority has said that about 70 per cent of new cases involve people who haven’t had a COVID shot.
Our public health authorities are clearly troubled as to the policy they should pursue. Mobile vaccination clinics are being used, and every effort is being made to reach out in more remote areas.
But if these efforts fail, the question arises, should the province resort to emergency legislation requiring everyone to be vaccinated?
This would certainly be contentious, and might fail several human-rights tests. But if this is a last resort, what other steps can be taken to enlist the 20 per cent of the population who have yet to be vaccinated?
It might help to consider some of the reasons given for declining vaccination.
The two most common are that there have been reports of serious side effects, and that this is a new medication which isn’t fully understood yet.
To deal with the first of these concerns, it is necessary to weigh the dangers associated with being vaccinated against the dangers associated with refusing.
Perhaps the first thing to note is that every vaccine has side effects. People, often children, have died after receiving mumps and measles shots. The cause is usually an allergic reaction.
But decades of experience show that the risks of vaccination are minimal, and certainly far less than the dangers involved in contracting an infectious disorder.
What about the various COVID-19 vaccines? Health Canada reports all instances of side effects associated wth COVID vaccination.
The vast number are non-serious, such as pain or swelling at the injection site. There have, however, been some deaths.
As of July 23, 162 deaths have been reported following COVID vaccination. Of these, 66 are unlikely to be linked to the vaccine, 33 are still under investigation and 57 cannot be assessed due to insufficient information.
Only six of these fatalities are definitely associated with the vaccine. The cause in each case was blood clotting.
Those deaths must be set against the fact that 26,573 Canadians have died of COVID so far, and the numbers continue to rise.
There is also the fact that 26,755,030 Canadians had received at least one shot as of July 24. Those numbers suggest that getting vaccinated is safer than declining.
What about the concern that these are new vaccines that haven’t been around long enough for us to be comfortable with their safety records?
This is a fair point. But it has to be viewed in context.
While the new vaccines were indeed created in under a year, the technology they are based on is decades-old.
We understand the viewpoint, perhaps more common amongst younger Canadians, that declining vaccination is a risk they are willing to take. Leaving aside the tiny number of proven fatalities, this belief must be placed in a broader setting.
Viruses can only survive inside a living being. They must find suitable hosts to perpetuate themselves.
While people refusing vaccination may feel they are not risking their own lives, they are helping to spread a disease that without question threatens the safety of our older population, where most of the deaths have occurred.
Is this a calculation that can be morally supported?
The bottom line is this. COVID-19 is a devastating pandemic that will cause enormous harm, both to the health of our population and to the economy, if it makes a comeback this winter. We owe it, not only to ourselves but to those around us, to ensure this doesn’t happen.
