CDN/US Covid-related political discussion

[brihard]

I’m completely fine with paramedics being trained to administer vaccines. In the system wide crisis we face right now that’s a no brainer.

 

[PuckChaser]

I’m completely fine with paramedics being trained to administer vaccines. In the system wide crisis we face right now that’s a no brainer.

Considering the interventions they're able to do in a trauma situation and the training they get, if we cant trust them with vaccinations when can we trust them?

 

[Brad Sallows]

Yes, yet we are right up there with the best of the rest in the G20, so not in this case.

We can never know what is "so" or "not so". Your point is that we are doing OK despite a mediocre start. True. But my point is that we could be doing better now if we had started better earlier.

 

[Altair]

We can never know what is "so" or "not so". Your point is that we are doing OK despite a mediocre start. True. But my point is that we could be doing better now if we had started better earlier.

Sure.

Except you leave out how exactly we could have done better.

 

[Remius]

I’ve said this before. People’s political bias in this thread is really showing.

 

[Weinie]

I’ve said this before. People’s political bias in this thread is really showing.

Well the thread is called "Cdn/US Covid-related political discussion."

 

[Halifax Tar]

I’ve said this before. People’s political bias in this thread is really showing.

Agreed, everyone's.

There have been failures at all levels of government WRT to the response to this pandemic. The sad part is the political class will circle the wagons, sacrifice a few inconsequential folks for the sake of fleeting public outrage; and go on as if this was a great success. And the partisan amongst us will happily drink the kool aide.

The blame here lays squarely with the citizenry of this country. We get the governments we deserve. The biggest positive I could hope for from all of this would be a more engaged citizenry, sadly I'm highly doubtful as we are a complacent and disconnected people.

 

[PMedMoe]

Alot or people skofff at the audacity of mortals questioning "experts", and equating said people to tinfoil wearing nuts.

Top Canadian WHO adviser under fire after downplaying airborne threat of COVID-19​

Link

Are you kidding? Dr. Conly is exactly who the tinfoil hat wearing nuts would be using to back their "no more lockdowns, masks are child abuse" fights.

I have no issues with people questioning "experts" but most of what I see is "Oh, they keep flip-flopping" and "But last year they said masks weren't needed!" People don't take into consideration that science isn't absolute or static; it progresses as a subject becomes better known. The more we find out, the better steps we can take for prevention/control.

And don't even get me started on the anti-vaxxers.

 

[YZT580]

diversion: "People don't take into consideration that science isn't absolute or static" except in those cases where it suits the storyline and then it is "science is settled" and those who don't agree are flat-earthers. Diversion ends.

 

[Halifax Tar]

diversion: "People don't take into consideration that science isn't absolute or static" except in those cases where it suits the storyline and then it is "science is settled" and those who don't agree are flat-earthers. Diversion ends.

This is it. Remember, at one time the science was settled that the earth was flat.

 

[mariomike]

I’m completely fine with paramedics being trained to administer vaccines. In the system wide crisis we face right now that’s a no brainer.

I'm pretty sure they would already be on Modified Duty. Never heard of them taking a car out of service. Even for something as important as this.

 

[Good2Golf]

And the PM doubles-down on letting B.1.617 double-mutant variant associated flights from India continue, in order to protect a large segment of the Liberal voting base.

Ottawa consulting on stricter border measures, won’t stop flights from India​

Article Link

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is indicating the federal government is looking at additional COVID-19 measures to protect international borders but won’t stop flights into Canada from India.

In an interview with Global News Wednesday, Trudeau said community spread continues to be the main concern and not international travel.

“We are looking at a range of potential measures either targeting certain areas of types of travellers. We are going to be working with experts and authorities across the country to ensure what we are doing is grounded in science and will keep people safe,” Trudeau said.

“There is no question, continuing our measures at the border and perhaps enhancing them will be important.”

British Columbia has now reported 39 cases of the B 1.617 COVID-19 variant, known as a double mutation, originating from India.


The cases were identified on April 4, and B.C. was able to identify this lineage through whole genome sequencing.

B 1.617 is now recognized as a variant of interest and not yet a variant of concern.

India continues to be a COVID-19 crisis point with the world’s second most populous nation reporting 295,041 new infections on Wednesday. It was the world’s highest daily rise and is stretching that country’s hospitals to breaking point.

“We have some of the strongest measures in the world in terms of borders. We have seen there are direct flights from many countries of concern but there are also indirect flights as well and making sure we have a system to address all flights is something we did months ago,” Trudeau said.

On the plus side of things, Canada’s still #3 in the G20 one-shot vaccination effort...notwithstanding about 30th in the world.

Yay us!

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

On the plus side of things, Canada’s still #3 in the G20 one-shot vaccination effort...notwithstanding about 30th in the world.

Yay us!

But isn't that "winning?"

 

[daftandbarmy]

And the PM doubles-down on letting B.1.617 double-mutant variant associated flights from India continue, in order to protect a large segment of the Liberal voting base.

Ottawa consulting on stricter border measures, won’t stop flights from India​

Article Link


On the plus side of things, Canada’s still #3 in the G20 one-shot vaccination effort...notwithstanding about 30th in the world.

Yay us!

#Acceptablelosses

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

That might be the funniest GIF I've ever seen

 

[Altair]

And the PM doubles-down on letting B.1.617 double-mutant variant associated flights from India continue, in order to protect a large segment of the Liberal voting base.

Ottawa consulting on stricter border measures, won’t stop flights from India​

Article Link


On the plus side of things, Canada’s still #3 in the G20 one-shot vaccination effort...notwithstanding about 30th in the world.

Yay us!

I really do wish we would just stop ALL travel.

That said, solid 3rd place now.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations

Our vaccination dataset uses the most recent official numbers from governments and health ministries worldwide. Population estimates for per-capita metrics are based on the United Nations World Population Prospects. Income groups are based on the World Bank classification. A full list of our...

ourworldindata.org

We are actually closing the gap with the USA in first dose numbers. The gap on the 4th of april was 16 percentage points, currently it's 14.

 

[RangerRay]

Terry Glavin: Federal budget's 'sorry' doesn't cut it for Trudeau government's COVID failures

Quite apart from the unrecoverable human toll, the costs Canadians must bear include about $100 billion in new spending

nationalpost.com

As soon as word began to leak out of the Chinese city of Wuhan last January that a deadly plague was upon the world, the prime minister had one job: to keep it out of Canada. Trudeau’s weird response in the early innings was an inexplicably fervent aversion to any restrictions on incoming air travel, and Ottawa wasn’t adequately embarrassed into imposing restrictions, and ineffectively at that, until March 25 last year.

 

[Good2Golf]

Even more notable, we’re closing the gap in the G7 in the race to worse performance for new cases at 227/million. #2 Germany at 234/million will soon downgrade to #3, as Canada trends past Germany, and has twice a worsening rate than#1 France at 472/million. Perhaps Canada will also be heading to claim “Greatest Number of Variants” moniker.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Except you leave out how exactly we could have done better.

I dunno. Match the US "Warp Speed" commitments dollar-for-dollar? It was only a few billion. What I do know is what I've learned from watching business people: "We'll enter the market late, and kinda fuck around for a while, but we hope to eventually command the market" doesn't seem to be a winning formula. The general lesson from lived experience of people is that often the more done up front, the more benefits are reaped later.

 

[Altair]

I dunno.

Yes, and people need to figure this out before they say we should have gone faster. How?

Match the US "Warp Speed" commitments dollar-for-dollar? It was only a few billion.

The USA dumped billions on their already active pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Moderna, J&J. We have no such equivalent.

You want to know what happens when you try to revive a dead pharmaceutical sector?

What's gone wrong with Australia's vaccine rollout?

The country has been far slower than others including the UK and the US to immunise its population.

www.bbc.com

"The country's initial efforts in securing vaccines appeared promising. It was among the first to announce an order with AstraZeneca, and also trumpeted its local manufacturing capacity with medical firm CSL.
Early in the rollout, though, confusion over just how much stock Australia had began to circle. A tussle with the European Union led to part of the AstraZeneca order being held back. And a lack of clear, public information has made it difficult to assess supply levels.
At the same time, domestic production hasn't lived up to expectations. Manufacturing began in March, with the government saying it would soon pump out about one million doses a week. It has so far failed to hit those targets."

"More local production is also possible. The state of Victoria will inject A$50m toward a production facility to make mRNA vaccines - like the Pfizer jab - locally.
Still, any facility would require much more funding and it would take at least a year before any doses could realistically be manufactured."

Yeah...that seems about right.

What I do know is what I've learned from watching business people: "We'll enter the market late, and kinda fuck around for a while, but we hope to eventually command the market" doesn't seem to be a winning formula. The general lesson from lived experience of people is that often the more done up front, the more benefits are reaped later.

You're not wrong, but at the end of the day, there was only going to be so many vaccines available per country. Countries that were ahead of us in line are not getting more vaccines than we are. So where we were in queue doesn't seem to matter as much as people are trying to make it sound.