Dear Editor
The National Post recently published an article entitled, “Canadian governments guilty of ‘major pandemic failures.’” It is based on a review published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) which cites as a “particular disgrace” the mass COVID outbreaks and deaths in long-term care homes. The report lists other failures, among them the callous disregard for the lowest paid “essential” workers who kept the country functional through their efforts at grocery stores, packing plants and in the transport of goods. I can add to that the increases in drug overdose deaths, the failure of countless small businesses, the increases in domestic violence, the educational harm to school children, especially those of lower-income families and last, but not least, the skyrocketing levels of inflation impacting all but the wealthiest
Nevertheless, the BMJ, despite acknowledging “harsh public health restrictions,” raises questions about inefficiencies and “vaccine safety misinformation and ideological concerns” rather than addressing the issue of whether perhaps the entire rationale underlying the pandemic response should be re-examined. For example, what if money and effort had been focused entirely on protecting seniors in long-term care homes where they were essentially prisoners for the duration? This is where death rates were truly significant, but elsewhere they were nowhere near what constant, daily media reports led us to believe.
Allow me to explain with a brief background. Three and a half years ago when the World Health Organization first declared the pandemic the news was frightening – were we facing something similar to the pandemics that devastated Europe during the Middle Ages and reportedly killed off a quarter to a half of that continent’s human population? Very quickly I started hearing about confirmed cases, mostly through sensationalized media reports but as well by word of mouth from among my acquaintances. I started immediately to compile a list of those I knew personally and by association, and by the time the first vaccines were available my list included well over 100 people, not one of whom had died and only one who had been hospitalized (for one night due to dehydration). Most victims suffered symptoms of what we would have in earlier times called the flu.
This is exactly what should have been expected according to agencies such as VIDO (Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan) and Health Direct, an agency of the Australian government. In answer to the question, “How severe is COVID-19?” They respond, “Most people infected with COVID-19 experience mild or moderate symptoms – fever and cough are the most commonly reported symptoms” and “Most do not require hospitalization.” Unless you were swayed by daily casualty reports, people were not expected to and were not dying like flies.
I decided to hold off on the vaccination until I could learn more, and now these many months later I believe that caution was well advised. When I calculated the latest COVID death last Tuesday (purportedly the 2000th in Sask.-CBC Radio) against a Saskatchewan population of 1,221,500 it works out to 0.002 per cent of our population dying in three and a half years and many, perhaps most of those deaths were associated with various co-morbidities. This in a province which experienced 11,275 total deaths or 0.009 per cent of our population last year alone. A perspective the general public was never made aware of.
We were pressured to get vaccinated, many times with severe consequences if we failed to comply. We were told that once 70 per cent of us got “the jab” we would achieve “herd immunity.” When that didn’t happen we were told we needed a vaccination rate of 80 per cent. People still developed COVID and the authorities then acknowledged that “Yes, you can still contract the virus but it will be less severe, and you won’t die from it.”
That also was not reliable information. I note from a United Kingdom Health Security Agency report of January 2022 on COVID-19 deaths within 28 and 60 days of a positive specimen that of those aged 50-59, 66 per cent were vaccinated; of those aged 60-69, 72 per cent were vaccinated, of those aged 70-79 81 per cent and of those over 80, 87 per cent were vaccinated!
When reading reports such as the BMJ cited earlier they suggest that despite the ineptitude of governments, it was the responsible behaviour of our citizenry that defeated the pandemic. This is completely misleading in that COVID has not been defeated. It is still here as widespread as ever, some people still die from it as they occasionally do from seasonal influenza epidemics, but for most of us life has essentially gone back to normal. The major difference is that through the ineptitude of our leaders, untold resources have been squandered and far too many personal freedoms lost.
Despite the increasingly evident public harm our governments forged ahead, reminding me of our justice system when it deals with cases of wrongful conviction – it can’t seemingly admit it might have made a mistake.
James Wiebe
Sonningdale
