By Pepper Parr
September 12th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
What if the pandemic never ends?
What if we are going to experience one version of the Covid19 virus after another?
Where are the variants coming from – indeed, where did the virus first exist. There are far far too many counties that do not have aggressive vaccination programs.
We are currently dealing with the Delta version. Given that less than 40% of the world’s population is getting vaccinated it is not that outrageous to suggest that there will be other, perhaps more dangerous variants.
Will we experience decades of limitations on what we can do? As a society can we cope with that kind of a situation?
Segments of the population have very strong feelings about the current federal leadership.
The anti-vaxers are close to rioting on a daily basis. Our human rights are being limited and we are tolerating that for the “better good” – but how long are we prepared to put up with that.
Are we going to find ourselves being inoculated a couple of times each year against the latest variant?
Ontario certainly doesn’t have the leadership it needs to get us through this – and the alternatives don’t inspire all that much confidence.
Societies go through immense change with situations like this.
The Western world became a much different place at the end of WW II – we saw decades of growth and prosperity the like of which human society has not seen since the Enlightments.
The scientists have delivered – and they might be able to continue to deliver at the same level.
But the world is made up of people, driven by their emotions and best interests for the most part.
Are we descending into a different Dark Age.
Do we have the capacity to overcome what we are faced with?
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
“Ontario certainly doesn’t have the leadership to get us through this”
Ontario got needles in arms quickly once the delayed procurement process from the idiot Feds finally arrived and has handled other aspects pretty well.
Give your head a shake and look at facts, not your anti Ford bias
Speaking of facts, it is a fact that Canada doesn’t make vaccines but has to buy them. Another fact is the emergency approvals needed took some time, so a vaccination start was delayed.
A third fact is that the Feds purchased the very best vaccines.
A final fact, for now, is that Canada has one of the most, if not the most, vaccinated country in the world.
Finally, before you call anyone an idiot you need to look in the mirror as you yourself need to give yourself a shake and look at the facts you didn’t look at.
It is another fact that there are a lot of idiots to share this name-calling on Covid – maybe your mirror will have some of this reflection.
Hello Mr Muir. No question we are very good now, however you ignore the detail that we would have had things underway a couple months earlier had the Feds not sole sourced from the “friendly” Chinese government. Shockingly they they backed out of the original agreement after several months and then we were scrambling to fill the void. (I guess they did us a favor since the vaccine is not very good) Without this poor judgement resulting in a 2 month delay, we might have avoided the fourth wave. This was not a provincial mess up.
Hello Mr Muir. Yes we are doing very well on vaccinations presently, a serious tribute to our clear thinking Canadian citizenry.
We did however lose valuable months, by the Feds pursuing and concluding a sole sourced purchase agreement with the “friendly” Chinese government for Vaccine, and after several months they reneged on the deal, leaving a void that caused our replacement purchases and deliveries to be behind by months. (of course we now know it was an inferior vaccine)
The only thing that makes me reflect in my mirror and give my head a shake is that the fourth wave might well have been avoided without this naive and short sighted decision by our friends in Ottawa.
It is amazing to me that people like the anti-vaxer’s were most likely the first people in line to get the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), due to Covid!
Yet they are the last ones to get (or not get) the required vaccine to help and support themselves and their fellow man, (and woman), in the fight against the new world viruses.
Here is a thought you can spread to the politicians and news reporter friends …”NO Vaccine, No CERB!”
Anyone who does not get the shot, for no medically apparent reason, should have to pay all the CERB benefit back to the government by tax year end 2021.
Hey if they don’t believe in the vaccine or covid, then they should not be able to benefit from it. So put a due date on the CERB and call them out for what they are!
Otherwise, “the pandemic never ends!”
Paul
This article is ahead of its time. I think we were not to “realize” this until, after the election.
If Covid-19 never ends, does that mean Vaccine Passports will never end?
I am not an anti-vaxxer but I am pro-democracy. As I see it, we are becoming less democratic now that we have Vaccine Passports. It seems as if you’re not vaccinated, you’re either an anti-vaxxer or you’re not too bright.
It’s never mentioned on the news but a lot of people are waiting for the Novavax vaccine. Novavax will be manufactured in Montreal and various other cities around the world. Phase 3 trials have been completed and we should expect to hear more by the end of September.
I’m especially uncomfortable with the vaccine passports I have seen from Quebec. I don’t agree that a young woman living alone has to show her Passport which includes her name, address, date of birth and phone number to retail clerks/servers bartenders etc. Have they had a police check? That could be a lot of dangerous information if it gets into the wrong hands. I also noticed the Quebec example had the person’s full name displayed on their electronic reader. How long is that information stored? Is it uploaded to a government computer in order to track people? I know that sounds very far fetched but the thought did cross my mind.
Will children from 12 -16 years old have to be vaccinated too? I would never vaccinate a child of 12 years old with a new type of vaccine that has only been approved for emergency use and has a history of roughly 2 years. Since almost all children get a very mild case of Covid-19 why take a chance on possible long term effects? It’s just not worth the gamble. The long term effects are not known, but we do know children today could easily live to be 100. Will the vaccinated children develop Parkinson’s or another debilitating condition 5 years from now? The devastating possibilities are frightening.
A person who has had Covid-19 and can prove through a test that they have plenty of antibodies can still be forced to get vaccinated. They can donate their blood to a Covid-19 patient who needs antibodies but they cannot work or even go to a restaurant for lunch. Not very scientific is it?
And, what about people who can’t be vaccinated? Are they just disposable people who are not to be considered in this decision?
If the pandemic never ends, will we need to keep updating our Vaccination Passport with a Proof Of Booster shots every year from now on? No government has said this is a temporary requirement. Could you use this Passport as I.D. when you go to vote instead of your driver’s license? Would it become part of your Canadian passport?
Citizens that do what the Government wants, like carrying a “Proof of Vaccination” will get preferred treatment over those who do not carry that I.D, Reminds me of China’s Social Credits. In China, good citizens have privileges like the ability to travel by plane or shop in certain stores whereas disobedient citizens are not allowed the same. Some Chinese citizens, lacking enough Social Credits, cannot even leave the town they live in.
Eight more sleeps and Canada’s Trudeau pandemic will at least be at an end. As for singling out the provincial government for leadership that is laughable. Canada set a record of 500 international flights landing with positive Covid cases only eclipsed with 900 in August. Great time to open up to unlimited international travel many obviously arriving with phony documentation. Mixed doses, Astra Zeneca I could go on….. Canada has no national leadership and when we elect the next minority government September sans 20 Trudeau we will still have none
We are doomed. Anti-vaxers will ruin the world as we know it. Imagine what the world would be like if people refused ALL the vaccines thus far? eg; polio, measles, rubella etc.
IMO, anti-vaxxers are only part of the problem. It’s also the very rich who have their own planes, the people with connections and people with a lot of disposable income that keep bringing the new variants here. Although anti-vaxxers are spreading a lot of it around, so are the vaccinated people who refuse to wear a mask or to keep their distance. Their attitude seems to be, “I’m okay, I won’t get too sick and I don’t care if I have Covid-19 and give it to you.”
Then it becomes “Endemic” like the Flu.