Not so long ago, I was in a place I like to be, with people I know well and admire. There came a point where I began to rant about folks who refused to be vaccinated. I was pretty plain about how I felt when it came to anti-vaxxers. I suddenly realized I was being met with polite but definitely awkward silence.
It was a big oops as I quickly recalled snippets of previous conversations with these people and connected with the reality that two of those I was now talking to quite likely had not been vaccinated for COVID-19 and probably had no intention of doing so. I quickly changed the subject but things were a little cool for a while after that.
Reflecting on that episode, I later concluded that I was so wrapped up in my belief that the only way to control the COVID-19 virus and to get us out of the entrails of this pandemic (a belief I must say, I still hold), that I was lecturing instead of explaining and making matters worse rather than better.
More recently, I have seen firsthand the strain on people who have different and conflicting views on COVID-19 vaccinations and, for that matter, on masking and social distancing. In some cases it has split families, certainly family occasions. And it has affected friendships.
For most anti-vaxxers I think the issue may be as much about resentment and frustration over the realities of such a long stretch of pandemic restrictions and government control as it is about actually getting vaccinated. After all, most of us in this world have had previous vaccinations for one thing or another.
Of course, we can’t just give in to the anti-vaxxers, shrug our shoulders and say it’s okay, just do your thing. Individual rights can never trump collective rights especially in matters of life and death.
But what we all need to recognize is the insidious effect that this prolonged pandemic has had on our temperament and our behaviour. Whether we recognize it or not, and whatever side we may be on in relation to COVID vaccinations, most of us are not the same people we were before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
We are less patient. We are far more judgemental. We are harder on politicians and on people who have a different viewpoint than we do and on those who urge or require us to do things we do not want to do. Much of this boils over into a latent anger that fuels a change in character and behaviour.
Jen Gerson, a co-founder and writer for a somewhat provocative publication called ‘The Line’ (@the_line.ca) puts much of this down to a post-pandemic mental health crisis that most people do not recognize. She says, “I think we are in the middle of the mental health pandemic right now. I think we are in it so deep that we can’t see it anymore.”
She goes on to suggest that during the pandemic, signs of mental illness were not as much the typical ones such as depression, anxiety or alcoholism but rather more a matter of a distinct change in behaviour. She says this:
“Look around: are people acting normal lately? Think of the protests we saw during the election, or the anti-vaccine marches through our downtown cores. Think of the mom wearing two masks who screamed because your kid got too close on the playground – was that rational, grounded, sane behaviour?”
And then she asks, “However, did we go from banging pots for health-care workers to blocking the exits of hospitals over the course of 18 months?… Something is happening to a lot of people, and you see it in COVID deniers and also in those who have made a religion out of the dangers of the disease.”
All of this makes me think that for our long-term wellbeing we need to cool our jets a little. Not compromise on what needs to be done to keep us safe until this pandemic is completely behind us. Certainly not. But perhaps we need to be a little more understanding and, yes, tolerant of those on both sides of the equation who take strong positions different than our own.
Political agendas aside, governments in Canada at all levels are doing their best to control this COVID-19 pandemic and to get us through it and back to a more normal standard of living. Have they made mistakes? Of course they have. But on balance, this country has done well under difficult circumstances. In Ontario, for example, we are now at a place where our daily incidents of COVID-19 infections during this fourth wave are lower than almost all of the provinces on a per capita basis. That is progress.
There are those who will always be upset with the restrictions and requirements that have been put in place by government to control and eventually eliminate the COVID-19 virus along with its variants. Conversely, there will always be those who will believe that governments have not done enough.
It is important, however, that we stay the course. We must recognize the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the mental health of many people and hence their behaviour. At the same time, it is important to do what needs to be done to control and eradicate this virulent virus, just as polio and smallpox have been virtually eliminated through vaccinations. By definition that means not everyone will be happy.
Like many of you, I have seen the anger and divisiveness this pandemic has caused, an ailment perhaps as serious and potentially more permanent than the virus itself. Conspiracy theories and anti-vax protests have not helped. Nor have overly rigid approaches to pandemic restrictions.
In my view, if we want to get through this pandemic without long-term damage to our basic characteristics as Canadians, we need to find a balance and we need to control the rhetoric and, yes, we need to lighten up a little!
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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Mr. Vowels, hello.
At heart, you can decide for yourself at this time.
If you do fall ill, a bigger question may be, “how many others will you infect until you are diagnosed and get to hospital?”. “How many health care professionals are you putting at risk when/if you are infected?”
Health professionals, hospital, and community care staff are not a dime-a-dozen, replaceable in a heartbeat.
As to the nurse professionals potentially losing their employment: these women and men are educated to learn and understand such things as communicable spread of disease and illness, immunization and its effects on the body to protect self and others more vulnerable.
In other words, they Know better – so more is expected of them, especially if they claim to hold certification and registration as a professional in the Province.
For example, the College of Nurses of Ontario is a mandated statutory body for the “purposes of protecting the public” from unprofessional, unscrupulous, and unknowledgeable nurses who may cause harm or worse to patients. So, each should be accountable.
I’ll try this one more time but it seems every time I write my opinion on this subject it does not get posted I guess because I disagree with most comments on here.
I’m not an anti vaxxer and if people want to take this vaccine that is fine with me but please do not condemn me and accuse me of being a big problem just because I happen to believe something different than you do I wear a mask when i’m out and practice self distancing as much as I can and so far in going on two years I’ve stayed away from this virus. I know I could contact it tomorrow or the next day but thats a chance I’m willing to take but I’ve lived a long time and not been vaccinated against anything but did have a lot of the things that they vaccinate against now. I just wonder why some health care workers are losing their jobs because they believe this vaccine is more dangerous than covi-19 is so they opp out. I think there is a lot more than we hear about but if the people that see the bad side of this virus opp out I believe there must be a reason. One way or the other I’ll not likely be around long enough to see who is right and who is wrong .
I am sorry. This is NOT a debatable issue. If you choose not to be vaccinated then you have no right to be out in public.
If I argued that I have the right, should I choose to do so, to wander about the streets scattering cynide here and there, I am sure that most persons would say that I am wrong. How then do unvaccinated persons have the right to be out endangering others.
If I argued that I intentionally and repeatedly inflict harm on myself requiring lengthy and very expensive hospital treatment and that I expect OHIP (and the taxpayers) to pick up the bill time after time, who would support me?
In the previous comments I have seem pleas for understanding and tolerance but I have not seen a single rational argument to support not being vaccinated. A little personal discomfort or dislike or whatever is not an argument. Allowing adults to get away with that is like letting a 5 year old do whatever he or she pleases.
I am disgusted with our governments for not taking a radically harder stand and enforcing vaccination for all.
To Britt Stevens:
I agree. A condescending “you are an idiot” approach is not the best way. It would probably, and understandably, put this group (for that matter, anyone who is vaccine hesitant) on the defensive. I too, am fully vaccinated; the pros outweigh any risks.
Thank you for the link to the Maclean article; it is well written and credible. It’s a worthwhile read.
Hugh has some interesting thoughts about the virus, mostly good to consider.
When they first came out with a vaccine, I thought everyone on Earth would have been clamoring to get it. Why? well I know how well other vaccines work and in virtually every case they are a positive force to help us all live better.
If you take billions of people there will always be a tiny fraction that reacts unexpectedly to anything, vaccines being no different, but more often than not the vaccine improves one’s chances of survival. The very infrequent bad reactions make good news filler but are statistically of little significance and the only data that matters in a pandemic is that which is statistically significant.
I’m here today because of Cancer research. Quite simply, without a whole bunch of treatments, some of which were downright “awful” at the time, I would not be here today.
I had to make some choices along the way, simple ones, like to accept an 86% chance of success for a particular treatment or a near 100% chance of death without the treatment. That one was easy even though at the time the treatment was completely experimental. It has since become much more common.
The current vaccine has a better success rate than this by far and it has been tested to the limits of our science and passed.
But if we back up for a moment, ask yourself “do I want to live in a world where this virus is no longer an issue?” If you do, then we need to get rid of as much of the virus as we can., ideally all of it.
Lacking a magic bullet that simply kills the virus there is only one way I am aware of to do this and that is to deny the virus a host where it can replicate.
There are two ways to do this. One is to remove any hosts. Like line every animal it can live in up, shoot them and bury them but this technique would doubtless cause more strife than the vaccine has done.
The other is to consider all of our society as the beneficiary and everyone who can do so, get vaccinated.
Both will effectively deny the virus a host in which to replicate.
And remember this little fact. Every time a thing like a virus replicates there is a chance for a mutation. Like cancer, most of these replications are non viable and die naturally or our bodies defense systems handle them as they do most things that are bad for us. But there is always a chance that a new mutation might be worse than what we have now. (Delta Variant). There is always a chance that a new variant might be much worse. Maybe a death rate of 90% instead of 2 %
So since the vaccine has been proven safe to the ability of our science and with millions of practical uses to date, since it is free and easily obtainable with minimal side effects, why not get it?
Some people say they don’t want to put something unknown into their body. I suppose these folks eat, if they read all the ingredients on every product they eat they might be surprised, and these are just the ingredients we measure and know about. Wonder what else you inhale on a city street or drink at a meal or what might have been deposited on the crop from which your bacon cheese burger came by sources unknown and untested? They probably have had a Measles vaccine plus some others when they first started school too and survived all this.
If you are still hesitant, at least go to a doctor and have an honest talk. Doctors know more than you do about this. We should at least have this conversation before we decide not to get a vaccine.
This is a polarizing topic, maybe more than politics but I could not agree with Cara Furguson more. Well said. For the record I have been vaccinated.
I will add that among those who have not received the vaccine; most are vaccine hesitant which is very different then a smaller group who we have labeled “anti vaxxers” and the smallest group which some call “conspiracy theorists”. Please read the article below from MaCleans. A condescending “you are an idiot” approach is not the best way to convince a 42 year old university/college educated Ontario women who voted liberal to take the vaccine.
https://www.macleans.ca/society/typical-vaccine-hesitant-person-is-a-42-year-old-ontario-woman-who-votes-liberal-abacus-polling/
Cara Ferguson; I wonder how much more accepting of vaccines people would be if they not only understood their usefulness, kept their own adult vaccination portfolio up to date, and accepted the annual flu shot? Yes, the science is not perfect, but it is the best show in town folks.
Immunizations would then be seen not be just for children or for those who travel, but for special times too (e.g. to prevent a severe case of shingles, pneumonia, meningitis).
Promoting the willingness to talk with a public health professionals for all in our community is a positive.
These vaccines are our best shot (pardon the pun) at infection prevention or minimizing the severity of disease spread.
Hugh, I too am all for being kind and less judgemental, often to a flaw. But that only works when it works both ways. The pattern of the past year shows that every time governments lighten up too quickly, the virus comes roaring back. Without vaccines, the 1918 Spanish flue infected a third of the world’s population and 20 to 50 million people died. Polio vaccination started in 1961 and billions of dollars were invested, the virus is still alive in one anti-vaxxer state, from which it could spread at any time.
Governments are walking a very fine line. Look what happened to Alberta’s healthcare system and Premier Kenny’s reputation when he lightened up too soon. Other provinces that followed a more prudent course were asked to take ICU patients from Alberta. Its the Canadian thing to do, but how fair is that?
Governments usually try to do what voters want them to do. Do we really want governments to let up on the fight? Does being personally less judgemental mean neglecting our responsibility as citizens and putting the entire burden for what happens on the healthcare system and the government? Will that end well?
Back in the day when smallpox vaccinations were given. The first time I was to get it I couldn’t as I was sick. The vaccination I finally received myself and I think it was 3 other children got very sick from it, would I do it again the simple answer is yes. I think its better to be part of the solution. Also in the 50,s I had diphtheria and red measles,neither were a good time. But no shots for those were out at the time.
Hughie: Through the years, we have agreed and we have disagreed on a multitude of topics. On balance, I prefer the ‘agreeing’ narrative.
On the topic of holding back the rhetoric, I heartily agree with you.
In our own immediate family, we have ‘anti-vaxxers’. This has created divisiveness, stress and unnatural distances between us at important family togetherness times. The most strident can provide no logical contradictory argument, only ‘not me!’. A difficult stance against which to argue with reason.
So, with your good advice, let’s all back off a little with our families, friends and politicians, and let science do it’s work.
‘We have met the enemy and they is us!’ Pogo, 1950s
I am not an anti-vaxxer but I am pro choice and I am pro kindness and pro listening to the dissenting opinions without labeling someone an idiot or conspiracy theorist.
I understand people’s discomfort with guidelines and reports on vaccine safety and efficacy that change as scientists learn more about the vaccine. I know people who suffered through Covid and long haul symptoms, I know people that died from Covid, I know people who had no reaction to a vaccine and I know others that had bad reactions. My point is the experience is different for everyone and that experience frames our perceptions and beliefs.
I chose to get the vaccine. But I respect those who are choosing not to get it.
Mr. Mackenzie; your insights do you credit.
It will be not surprise to you that I cannot agree with your by-and-large government pass on pandemic response from our Provincial leader and his party. However, I will save that litany of assessment and evaluation for another time, closer to our Provincial election.
What, to me, has come as no surprise, yet complete surprise at the same time is the amount of ignorance concerning public health, the lack of an ethos of “common good” versus the “love affair” with individual rights – my freedom above everyone else’s even if my freedom costs the health and life of others. The I “care about myself first and not my neighbour”. This backfires when the rugged individualist contracts COVID or spreads the same to family. How many more heart-breaking stories do we have to hear about to bring our reality home to them?
Finally, our health care professionals and workers are working under war-like conditions. How disheartening to learn that the some in the population they serve, save, and care for do not believe there is a war at all.
Thanks for opening this discussion.
I just wish the anti vaxers would please remember that Polio and Smallpox are no longer in our vocabulary .