My article this week will be short and sweet, and no doubt make some people unhappy. So be it.
It’s time to get really serious about ending the COVID 19 pandemic. Despite all efforts, it hasn’t gone away. While variants of the virus have different strengths and consequences, infections are increasing at an alarming rate. A month ago, daily COVID-19 infections in Ontario were in the low hundreds. On Friday there were over 1,600 COVID infections reported in Ontario.
The majority of these people are unvaccinated. Too many of them are children. There is also an increasing number of infections in people who have been double vaccinated. In part, this is because of compromised immune systems and pre-existing conditions. It may also be because the effectiveness of vaccines decreases over time.
Sadly too, there are a growing number of people, yes, anti-vaxxers, who not only oppose COVID vaccinations for themselves but spread disinformation and scare tactics so that those that are hesitant will avoid vaccination. It has become a part of woke politics that is both alarming and dangerous.
The hard fact, as I understand it, is that a virus only is eradicated when there is no place for it to replicate or mutate. As long as a host exists, so does the virus. Without a vaccine, polio, and smallpox, measles and chickenpox would still be rampant. The same holds true for COVID-19 and its variants.
To me then, especially as the latest COVID variant, Omicron, raises its ugly head, maximum protection through vaccination is a no-brainer.
I have friends who are vaccine-hesitant, and I know of families who are divided over anti-vaxxers in their midst. And I am painfully aware that there are still people out there who believe the COVID-19 virus is nothing more than a hoax. All of that is unfortunate.
But that doesn’t change the reality that this virus is real, millions have contracted it and hundreds of thousands have died from it. COVID-19 is a genuine pandemic that can only be effectively eradicated through vaccination.
As we go through this latest round of infections of COVID-19 and its variants, we cannot revert to many of the methods used over the past eighteen months to control the spread. Most humans can only take so much isolation. Further lockdowns and business closures will only foster frustration, anger and serious mental health issues — to say nothing about the pressure on the economy and on parents having to home-school their children on top of their own work schedules. Most individuals are not willing to wait a lot longer for a return to some form of normalcy in their daily lives.
That is why it is time for a wake-up call.
No longer can politicians, or for that matter the general public, be wishy-washy about what needs to be done to effectively manage new stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. To fail to insist on necessary protocols to contain the curve of the virus, and to fail to enforce them, means we will inexorably be back to restrictions that would not be tolerated and could create civil unrest.
So, here is my view on what is needed:
First, we need to tighten existing requirements. For example, medical exemptions need to be more fully scrutinized. There is potential for abuse of the system here and significant evidence that it is happening. It is good to see the Ontario Government waking up to this and requiring health units to verify the validity of exemptions provided by physicians in their vicinity.
Also, with the possible exception of genuine medical exemptions, there must be consequences for the choice of remaining unvaccinated against COVID-19. That would include travel restrictions and significant restrictions to gathering in public spaces. If that requires emergency legislation to temporarily limit certain freedoms for those who refuse to be vaccinated, then so be it.
I know it is controversial but having some knowledge of the pressure, toil, and frustration on front-line health care workers, patients hospitalized with COVID who have refused to be vaccinated (other than those ineligible) should not expect priority treatment in an over-loaded system over others who have a serious illness.
While I believe in the importance of children and young people being physically in school, parents who decide not to have their children over the age of five vaccinated for COVID-19 should be told that they will have to be home-schooled with remote learning.
Until the number of COVID infections dramatically decreases as more children get vaccinated and more adults receive their booster shots, masks should be made mandatory in all public places, except when eating.
It is also important that extensive public information campaigns be extended to promote other important public safety COVID protocols such as frequent hand-washing and social distancing, when appropriate.
Tough talk? Tough medicine? You bet it is! But it is also a wake-up call. If we really want to make this pandemic yesterday’s news; if we really do not want to go backwards, then we need to think seriously about how to accomplish that and act on it.
It won’t happen by itself.
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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Our family has been vaccinated out of concern and for our wellbeing and for the rest of the world. We recently got our booster. Make no mistake. It was not fear based. We weren’t coerced. We weren’t brainwashed. We are neither risk takers nor sheep who follow blindly.
I’m very curious. For those who don’t trust the science re vaccines – do you ever take over the counter medication? Do you take Rx medication? Do you give it to your children? Cough syrup, ASA, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, antihistamines, and heart medications etc. have side effects for some people. X-rays pose health risks. Chemotherapy poses health risks. Surgery involves risks. And so on. Yet, there is no argument that in some instances, it’s the prudent course of action.
Vaccinations save lives. Over the decades, this has been proven time and time again.
Anna-Lise, your comment “your world of one” referring to the fact/ science challenged anti-vaxers’ is bang on. Ignorance (willful or otherwise) kills not vaccines.
Fortunately, Mr. Stamp; my kids have been vaccinated, they are doing their part as caring citizens for us and for their community. My adult children do not need the kind of protection you are offering. They too are critical thinkers. I’m proud of them.
Mr. Stamp; thank you for your response. My care of community and individuals within that community is driving my comments, not fear. As a retired nurse, the needs of others comes first when health and safety are the challenge have been a part of my professional life. I have worked in an intensive care unit, and have been a public health nurse. So, my undergraduate education has helped to prepare me to understand the science. I understand how annual flu vaccines are determined and why they are different from bacterial inoculations. I have administered vaccines to elderly people.
Since 1990, I have had an annual flu vaccine. All my adult immunizations are up to date, I have taken full advantage of pneumovax and, shingles vaccinations to protect myself and others, as a fully responsible citizen in the community in which I reside. Please do not have the impression that I do not have much personal experience in the value of this medicine. I understand how communicable disease spreads. I understand how hard public health nurses work.
I feel very badly for those who will be further affected and infected by unvaccinated people, as they continue to be reservoirs for COVID spread, including viral mutations. To name a few: health care professionals and workers, others in hospital (and those who will suffer because they cannot receive the medical and healthcare services because the Intensive Care units and hospitals are filling and full).
The unvaccinated people and those who flaunt Public Health recommendations and cautions have chosen to allow continual contagion. That is very sad. If I had to choose a story as metaphor for this time, it would be Noah’s Ark. Those who refuse to acknowledge what they can do when the flood waters rain. If that strikes fear, it is also the reality. It is my burden of care for people in the community (especially LTC and children) during a time when there should be a “war on COVID” attitude from a united populace to protect one another, protect the health care system we have, and those who choose caring professions.
When we could be responding as if we were in wartime – pulling together, we have some who hold their rights above others. We need a temporary COVID action, even if that takes 4 years. I am not asking that people be unthinking, but wanting to learn and ask questions, express fears to a reliable professional.
Otherwise, we take for granted what we have – that the care will always be there. Health professionals, teachers too are burning out, leaving the profession. The least we can do is to become well informed.
All else is selfishness to me, yes.
Anna-Lise Kear……
You neglect much of the facts that are being labeled as “conspiracy” because it does not fulfill your fear based agenda. There are many deaths and disablement created by this so called “vaccine”. You wish me to stand in front of that unstable experimental train because it makes you “feel” safer? And I am the one that is being selfish? It upsets us to think that nobody here takes in consideration what these mandates are doing to our people. The mental disorders, suicides, the drug addictions, the loss of careers, families and homes. Teaching our children that government over reach is acceptable and it should trump our core beliefs, morals and yes, actual science. You are focuses on the Shiney side of one coin while you step on the communities treasure. If you believe all this other nonsense about how this vaccine works, it’ll be hard to drill in any other intelligent reality. You are all pushing out of fear, and calling yourselves heros while you contribute irreversible damage to this country. One day you will all hopefully see and not mentally deny the truth of what is being created here. And if selfish is fighting for our children, yours will one day thank me and those like me that question science (that’s what science is) that question these mandates and discrimination (that’s critical thinkers do) and question the angry mob (that’s what patriotic Canadians do)
Good luck. I
Mr. Jeff Stamp says, “Those of us that have chosen to not be vaccinated, have done so with whatever reason we decided was good for our lives.”
Yes, Mr. Stamp, that is my point. What is good for you and your lives. That is your individualistic, personal choice. The crux of the matter is that this is not a political issue, not a religious issue, but one of Public Health only. Is there any priority for others in your equation? Your equation is one-sided and reflects the value placed on the individual, not the community health and well-being of others.
So, while you live in a world of one, and that one being more important than the others, the many, the pandemic will continue to move ahead.
Your comment proves my point almost in entirety. Me first, second, and last. Let others “eat cake”, fend for themselves. Enjoy your world of one. I am not saying this out of fear, reality speaks for itself. Merely suggesting that is to everyone’s benefit to care about the community we live in and the world we jointly inhabit. Pandemics (whatever origin) do not discriminate between the robust individualist and the member of a human community.
Time to grow up and recognize our interdependence upon one another, not our independence.
I just received a sad call…a family friend, 70 years old, healthy, contracted COVID from her adult son last week and died early this morning. So very devastating. So very preventable.
Neither were vaccinated.
Apparently she had booked her vaccination appointments, only to have them cancelled by her selfish children.
So I say, to all of you living in the abyss called anti-vax, anti-mask, conspiracy theories, tyrannical governments and uber entitlement, stay there, until of course you contract COVID and then need to seek medical attention.
There is no room for your views…just read CREDIBLE evidence of the spread and deadly impact of this virus. Maybe that will knock some sense into your minds.
DO NOT EVER compare any modern day Canadian government’s actions to the horrors of the Holocaust! By doing so, you expose yourselves as ignorant, self-absorbed imbeciles.
I do my part every day (as I am sure most of us do) to ensure my health and safety, that of my family, friends, neighbours and fellow Canadians…I stop at stop signs and red lights; I drive insured; I wear my seatbelt; I volunteer regularly; I donate to charity; I pray; I am kind; I wear my mask; I am double vaccinated (soon to be triple vaccinated!); and I care.
Can the conspiracy theorists say the same? Doubt it. We all a role to play in one another’s safety. Get vaccinated!
Apparently my first comment wasn’t accepted. There was no name calling…. no hate speech and no misinformation. I’ll shrink it down to this simple message.
Those that live in fear, will seek to oppress others that are not afraid. Out of fear you have all lost your respect and humanity while screaming “THE HUMANITY!!!” Those of us that have chosen to not be vaccinated, have done so with whatever reason we decided was good for our lives. Not everyone that haven’t received the jab is antiVax or a conspiracy theorist. Choice is a part of humanity. Be it Religious/spiritual beliefs, phillisophical beliefs (which both play a role in my choice and of course actually digging deep into researching the “vaccine” and understanding my own body and immune system. Everyone here that casts out “selfish” or “uneducated” or “conspiracy theorists” are the ones that are causing the division. I have researched countless published papers (both pro and con) about the vaccine, the initial intent and the aftermath of how it affects the body. For those of you with the big voice, I hope you have spent the same amount of time in study as I have (though I would bet most of you have not). Aside from the opposing results “the science(lol)” has put out there, you forget the most important messages. Do onto others. Diversity is human. The right to chose. I’m not put here on Earth to enhance your safety or coddle your fears. Please… if you find yourself wanting to shame others for their differences, or lock away those that do not share in your perception… please…. stay home and close the blinds until common sense and human decency trumps over pompous ignorance. You can’t be a hero if you live and not let live. Being quiet with your harsh opinions and comments can be your super cape.
Well I read all the arguments both for and against the vaccine. I’ll only say how I feel this one last time If 500 to 600 or more people a day are double vaccinated and still testing positive .In my opinion this vaccine is not working . Just think 500 a day for 30 days thats about 15000 people a month running around that can spread this virus. Oh by the way I’m not against vaccination if you choose to get it I’m against being forced to take it against your will just so you can live a normal life.
I am truly happy I can for once 100% agree with Mr. Mackenzie. A great article.
An excellent comment Mr. Kerckhoff. Thank you both for pointing out yet again that the so-called “individual rights and freedoms” should never trump the wellbeing and security of the community.
I am amazed about the content and the number of negative comments, which are based on the misguided beliefs of, luckily, the minority of the population.
Should we trust the scientists and the medical practitioners, or should we trust the followers of various conspiracy theories?
Mr. O’Connor, I do not know your academic credentials, but the statistics you quote are not sound. There has been a minute number, in comparison with the number of vaccinations, of adverse effects of vaccinations, mainly in people with underlying medical conditions. While in comparison, the number of lives saved with vaccinations is enormous.
As for the alleged “tyranny” of vaccinations and wearing of masks, I would like to point out that during the great wars of the 20th century all people happily complied with the mandated measures, such as fighting on the front lines, carrying gas masks, food rations, labour in weapons factories, labour in agriculture, and other activities of the war effort, in order to combat and finally defeat the common enemy.
Following the wars, there were pandemics of deadly diseases such as flu and polio. How were those eradicated? Not by spreading the unscientific conspiracy theories, I am sure.
This time, the COVID-19 and its variants are the common enemies. Should we not all contribute as much as we can to deprive the virus of unprotected lungs where it multiplies? The solid science says: yes, we should!
I think everybody would wish that the virus would somehow just “go away” so life could be more normal again.
Trouble is, we have overpopulated and pushed the resources of this Earth and it’s capacity to self regulate it’s many facets, be it disease, weather or whatever you choose to analyze that there most likely is not now, nor ever will be again, the “normal” that we are seeking that lies in our memory.
What I understand about this current problem with the virus is that each and every time it replicates, it has the possibility of mutating. Each time it mutates there is a possibility that the mutation will be viable and grow and spread. Each such mutation has the possibility of being as bad or worse than any previous one. Most mutations are probably and fortunately like cancer cells and are nonviable and just die or are found and killed by our existing bodily defenses.
I understand that Viruses need a host in which to live and multiply. They cannot just sort of “do it” while laying on a rock somewhere. So in this case humans are the main host we worry about. They are not the only host. I’m told some animals can act as hosts as well so this will complicate things. If we have this much trouble vaccinating humans can you just imagine vaccinating all the ant eaters in Asia?
Still, the best way to prevent further viral spread and mutation is to deny the virus a host and the best way we have, not the perfect way but the best available, is to vaccinate as many people as we can.
We can try to do this world wide, like we did with Smallpox, or we can be more selfish and just do our own country but if we do the later we also need to prevent cross border travel to and from out protected country and we don’t like this option much it seems.
So, it is not perfect but if we can vaccinate, and vaccinate again and boost that vaccination, everywhere in the whole world, then after a while, (it took over 50 years for Small pox) the virus has to die out. Then, it it is not replaced by something equivalently malicious, we might go back to the way we were prior to the virus appearing. Is this the goal we are looking for? Or are we going to resist in an orgy of self rights and republican “false news” forever?
It is our choice.
Oh, and by the way Merril Perret is quite correct about the way the data is presented. I noted this a while ago and wonder why the health department reports the way they do as it is very misleading. Read that comment and then look at the Health unit stats and you will see what this is about.
James Jensen: I find it a bit of a hoot that you would question the veracity of the statements others might have made, when you live within knuckle dragging distance of a man who raised lying to an art form!
I’ve travelled a fair bit. I found Prague to be a beautiful city. Cairns was nice, but maybe a bit humid. Sydney was a great city and fabulously easy to get around in. My favorite place though is the village of Penallt in Wales. I am quite partial to their local pub.
I found Florida ( the land of the gray raisins) warm but not exceptional. There was some excitement when we were forced to evacuate from Tigertail beach ahead of an approaching storm.
So it is nice that you have a beautiful lanai ( a porch by any other name) and birds, and that you are happy that you live there in Florida. I’m glad you live there, in Florida.
Win. Win.
During the various comments on COVID-19 and how quickly vaccines were developed. In the case of MRNA vaccines they have been in development for over 10 + years. The controlled study in the U.S. involving 35,000 + subjects including some women that were pregnant – yes I am sensitive to women that are pregnant. Between MRNA and others there have been MILLIONS vaccinated. Yes there have been a number of deaths but, how many were a result of other complication contributing towards their demise, complications that may have contributed regardless of the vaccination. This information has never been advanced – the easy decision is Covid if the person has the virus.
Yes some people do get sick from the vaccination however, the alternative is extreme sickness and horrible death and the mental iimpact on families and friends. Yes people fully vaccinated can get sick however, providing there are no other complications, will stay out of the ICU – not putting more stress on our front line heroes / heroines -and survive.
I personaly went through a scare but the scare affected a number of my friends whom I had to tell. I was negative and did not get the virus but. 66% of the people in my group did test positive. Do you as an anti-vaxxer or conspiracy theorists or believer want to be responsible for infecting others and causing suffering and possibly death.
Yes, I do comprehend your thoughts regarding ownership of your body but are you fighting the principal and do not care about others.
I implore do not continue with your avoidance of getting the vaccine.
I hope I have made sense.
Here we are, sitting on this little ball we call “earth,” wasting TIME, which we can never get back, trying to hurt one another with words and accusations. In the big picture of things, our TIME on this beautiful planet is over in the “blink of an eye”…….
PLEASE let’s look past ourselves and try to focus on trying to HELP one another survive our REAL enemy…the virus!!
I fully endorse your sentiments, Hugh.
One small correction, though: you say the anti-vax movement “has become a part of woke politics that is both alarming and dangerous.”
“Woke politics” is not a well-defined term, but it generally refers to left-wing or far-left stances on issues of social justice (that would be stuff like addressing system racism, police brutality, inequality, etc.).
It has nothing to do with the anti-vaccine movement.
///
As an aside, why is the Doppler allowing so much disinformation in this comment section? You can’t have a proper discussion when half the commenters are living in an alternate reality (or in the case of Mr Jensen, the USA). These vaccines are incredibly safe and effective; they are based on technology that has been in development for decades.
If you are a patriotic citizen, the most patriotic thing you can do is roll up your sleeve and get your shot. Help protect the lives and livelihoods of your fellow citizens. My fullest thanks to those who already have.
Well, this opinion piece has certainly garnered some attention. It is obvious that many topics surrounding the coronavirus-2 that causes COVID-19 have been controversial. What bothers me most is that for now almost everything we” know”, we don’t. It is too early for evidence based conclusions. There has not been time to establish research that determines the actual efficacy of any of the vaccines or even to establish accurate numbers of positive cases (considering false positive, false negative results), modes of transmission, and RO numbers (the number of people an infected person will likely transmit the coronavirus to) . Never mind what we are supposed to do with all those reported numbers. We are in a pandemic and everything is moving quickly so confusion and uncertainty is to be expected. What wasn’t expected is the vitriol with which opinions have been expressed as well as the reactions to those opinions. We are each entitled to our opinions but other people are also entitled to theirs. We are not required to agree but we should respect the right of expression. Opinions probably should be based on facts but don’t have to be.
For those relying on the “statistics” from VAERS to support the assertion that more than 20,000 deaths have been reported due to the vaccine illustrates a complete misunderstanding of the purpose for VAERS – it is an American national service mostly for healthcare workers but actually for anyone to report any adverse reaction from a vaccine including deaths. VAERS does not determine whether the vaccine was causative or associative (or neither). Associative means the death occurred sometime (anytime?) after receiving their vaccine. An analogy would be stating that coffee causes car accidents. When we consider all the people who had coffee in the morning and the number of daily car accidents, an accident report might conclude that drinking coffee causes car accidents. We know that is not the case. The accident occurred sometime after consuming the coffee so it may be associated but is not the cause. In the US, more than 459 million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been administered. Approximately 10,000 deaths have been reported to VAERS as of December 03, 2021. So far, about 15 have been determined to be causative – the rest may be associative or not related at all.
Those are pretty good odds when you consider the US is approaching 800,00 deaths from those with COVID-19 (yes, some are dying with COVID and not from it, but it is still factor contributing to the cause of their untimely death)
I think we should all grab a cup of coffee and consider the odds of getting into a car accident on the way to receiving our vaccine. The odds and the evidence support that as being the best way we can each contribute to ending this pandemic.
Among the many arguments used to support anti-vaccine sentiments or vaccine-hesitantancy, one serious mistake is included in the comments above. That argument is that, since half the daily new infections are amongst double-vaxxed people, the vaccines don’t work. Wrong!
The way the raw data is published every day is misleading. We need to understand what the numbers really mean.
If, on a given day, 1,000 unvaxxed and 1,000 fully vaxxed cases are reported, we must understand that the number of fully vaxxed Ontarians from which those cases come is four times higher than the number of unvaxxed to begin with. The hugely unequal size of each group must be taken into consideration and understood: 80% versus 20%. In the current circumstances, the infection rate amongst unvaxxed folks is roughly four times greater than amongst the vaxxed. That is the real math.
Carried further, unvaxxed people are roughly 10 times more likely to need hospitalization than vaxxed, and roughly 29 times more likely to require intensive care! These cases using up intensive care capacity are blocking access to people requiring cancer or heart treatment.
People are dying who shouldn’t be—this is a preventable disease, folks. And, please do the math. Thanks.
My goodness, Mr. Mackenzie, the ignorance among some of the commenters on this page still remains.
Some seem to have a great deal of difficulty between personal, individualism and the social, ethical responsible act of protecting self and others. That is basically what this comes down to. Are you a world unto yourself OR do you reside in a human community?
The “I’m okay, … the adage cannot be completed (the “you’re okay” part). “It’s I’m okay, to h’— with you.”
To compare any of this to Nazi Germany is Way, Way over the top! (the goal is to protect people from illness and death, not as an excuse to cause their death!). That is really close to fear-mongering.
Research ethics was also an outcome from the Nuremberg trials. Those have formed the basis of ethics in the science community, years ago.
Seriously, some do not have a clue about viruses, and begs the question of how important a science curriculum needs to be taught well before post secondary school. Communicable disease spread is within the legislated mandate of the Department of Health, Ontario. They are mandated to “protect the public” in such instances as this. Imagine if we had a well-informed citizenry who actually took to heart all of that reasoned advice! OR, at least talked with a professional from the Health unit to ask questions, state their fears.
If my community is protected, then the individuals within that community are protected. That is the order of things in a pandemic. Get past your external skin covering to think of others.
Thank you Hugh Mackenzie and Gordon Middleton for your comments.
I am appalled at the hateful comments spewing from people.To compare asking people to be vaccinated, wear a mask and socially distance to the rounding up of Jews in Germany is ludicrous.
I’m tired of this hateful , incorrect spread of misinformation. If you don’t want to be part of protecting yourself and others in the community then pull the sheets up over your head and stay home!
I’m tired of this pandemic but I will do whatever it takes to end it as guided by educated, infectious disease specialists.
Some of the comments were pretty funny on this article. And some im sure these people are wearing there tinfoil hats too tight. If you want conspiracy theories im pretty sure I can hunt up a few forums for you to read. How in creation does it infringe on anyone’s rights to have vaccinations, you have been having them since you were born. Did you ever see a baby sit up and say mom don’t give me that mmr vaccine it infringes on my rights. No I didn’t think so.
Thanks for tagging in and adding more much-needed levity to this debate, Allen Markle. You got my day started with proper belly laugh!
I sympathize with all sides. My heart breaks for people who have suffered this pandemic; from those who have been buggered by the economic woes, to those who have experienced the crushing depression of isolation, all the way up to those who have lost loved ones.
The fastest way out of this pandemic was (and still is) to make choices that are in the best interests of our neighbours above the best interests of the self. I didn’t want to get vaccinated. I don’t want to wear masks. I dislike the awkwardness of swerving around people in public spaces. But if doing so reduces the chance of communicating COVID and its variants to the most vulnerable members of our community that’s an inconvenience I’ll happily endure.
But I see victims of this pandemic in other ways than those mentioned prior: people who have chosen to politicize it and attack others they don’t agree with. Commenters here who think Mr. Mackenzie should speak with doctors and nurses must not have read his bio. I think their advice would’ve been better informed had they observed the boards he’s served on!
And those who compare public health (common sense) guidelines with the deeds of the gestapo seem right out to lunch to me. They are victims of misinformation who’ve seemingly lost the ability to think for themselves, embrace conspiracy theories, and are the most scared of us all. Their fear is the vulnerability that makes them easy to control by sinister parties who have something to gain from the divisiveness they create.
I’m glad at least 80% of us has done what we can to put this pandemic behind us. The minority may call us sheep (or worse) and harbor a wish that we all suffer terrible side effects from the vaccine. But those of us who are making the choice to protect our neighbours can consider ourselves among the evolved members of the species who believe humanity is mostly good, mostly intelligent, and mostly capable of distinguishing ourselves separately from the rest of the animal kingdom.
Well…as my dear mother used to say “you sleep in the bed you make”. We are sleeping in a communal bed at the moment. Arguments are easy to make, and a little harder to back up with “real” facts. It’s unfortunate that something like a virus has created such division in our community.
Writing from my beautiful lanai listening to the birds chirping in the Free State of Florida thinking about horrible cold dark depressed Huntsville and how terribly oppressed Canada is right now, like a frozen Com Bloc country at the height of the cold war.
I have to say my favourite part of this gloomy opinion piece and the pro-comments below is the religious devotion to the vaccine, and that you have unboosted people calling those who have yet to take the vaccine into their lives un-vaccinated or anti-vaccine. This vitriol is being fed by the public sector who are destroying the provate sector. Very sad to see the hateful spiteful language coming from people who have been ao brainwashed by fear. Down here we have multiple options for treatment beyond the Vaccine as well as 4 choices including non-mRNA. Get sick walk into a CVS or a clinic and you’re good in 24 hours. Tam and Trudeau Doug and Christine Elliot are lying to you.
For those wagging their fingers at the unconvinced, the unclean look at the horizon you will be joining them soon. The UK has already moved the mRNA vaccines that claimed 95 to 97% efficacy in a single dose to something now required at 3 month intervals …indefinitely.
Maybe the Un-Boosted and Un-Boosters should lose access to healthcare as well. Everyone should just stay in their houses go broke, and let the economy completely implode.
God Bless America, Land of Free Home of The Brave!
Gordon Middleton: I think I have perceived a voice of reason. But the disinformation being disseminated by the hysterical hordes is coming so fast and furious that……..
I believe the steak/teeth comment was good, but missed the mark because, who the h/x!!=# can afford either now days.
Our social chaos today could be rooted in too many people sleeping on their side!!! Grey cells are draining away. Could there be any another explanation? Research done by the BBW group (big bad wolf??) indicates 40% of the participants were unreasonable.
Please check your pillows people!!!! There may still be hope.
I realise this may be shocking information for some people, but it had to be said.
Santa Claus protect us!!!
Based on the lack of moderation here it would seem that the Doppler condones antivax misinformation in spite of Hugh’s article.
As a hospital worker, I agree with everything Hugh has said. Anyone against can kick rocks. I am done dealing with them.
I spent time writing a comment earlier but I guess It got censored at least not posted so now I would just like to say that I agree with Kyle O ‘Connor 100% he did a much better job of stating the facts than I could have,. As far as Mr. Mckenzie is concerned he should be ashamed of himself for putting that kind of junk on paper. On Remembrance day he was all for honoring the young men and women that gave so much back in the 1940s so that we could have the freedom that we have enjoyed for so many years. Now he thinks Govt. should just take them all away and treat us like citizens of a communist country.
I honestly cannot believe how someone can condone and encourage hate like this. We live in a democratic country and I am so thankful Hugh Mackenzie did not go far as a politician. He is spreading hate . There is absolutely no excuse for fascism. If you wish to live like that then you are very welcome to take your vaccinated ass on a plane and go to one of the communist countries of your choosing. Keep your hate in your suitcase with you. The sooner the better.
It would be good to get your resources accurate. They are painfully incorrect . Try and actually talk to several hospital staff, Drs, nurses, and first responders, even therapists.
Your view is your own, coming from fear.
There is more damage to our community being done with isolation and punitive measures.
There are many health measures one can take to protect themselves without punishing others.
For physical health we also need mental
, emotional and spiritual health.
Freedom of choice, respect and self responsibility is the community I live in and intend to maintain .
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that comparisons linking measures to protect society with events surrounding the holocaust seem utterly ludicrous? Insane, even?
Perhaps I should stop brushing my teeth with toothpaste recommended by the Canadian Dental Association? Oh sure, it may prevent cavities and gum disease, but doesn’t toothpaste contain flouride, a mind-control agent? Isn’t brushing twice a day exactly what “they” want me to do?
It’s time everyone woke up to the facts, ceased being sheep, and stopped brushing with toothpaste! Nobody can tell ME that if I want to eat a steak that I have to have teeth. Anyone who does is clearly a proponent of the totalitarian regime we’ll all suffer under if we continue to brush twice daily.
I was not even going to bother talking the time to comment on this but with so many bound and bent that the main problem is with the unvaxxed as they call us. Fist I would like you all to do a bit of research on the polio vaccine that you keep comparing this vaccine to also the rest of the vaccines mentioned. They were all tested for years not a year not a month YEARS before they were deemed safe for the public. Once you were injected with one of those vaccines you did not get polio or measles or if you did it was very rare. They worked after twenty or so years you may need a booster shot not 6 months after. You blame us nonvaxxers for the problem but it’s funny most of us have gone for the last almost two years without contacting covid-19 now all of a sudden with all the double vaxxed people running around and not self distancing or paying much attention to what or where they are and at least 50% of each days new cases are those double vaxxed things are getting worse not better. But keep blaming the people that still think this is a free country and decide not to take a drug that is proving to not work more every day If this makes you feel superior then so be it. I have lived my whole life without being vaccinated for anything so I see no reason to change now and if I get covid and they won’t treat me in hospital so be it my choice.
Once again, a proposed solution to the problem is what hasn’t been working! – tyranny.
“The hard fact, as I understand it, is that a virus only is eradicated when there is no place for it to replicate or mutate. As long as a host exists, so does the virus. Without a vaccine, polio, and smallpox, measles and chickenpox would still be rampant. The same holds true for COVID-19 and its variants.”
Your statement above has a critical flaw. It, like so much on the side of oppression – falsely depicts the COVID vaccination as eradication rather than It’s aid to symptoms. If you are going to encourage segregation and totalitarian governance, it would at least be best if 1. It benefited. 2. You imply logic and have good understanding(you do not).
You are coercing people to take a vaccine (which you yourself misinformed to eradicate) – and are expecting them to forcibly exchange their natural 99% recovery rate; for possible side effects such as Myocarditis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, Bell’s palsy among others, for .. a STILL 99% recovery rate. I must add that it is still too early to equate fertility and other critical concerns. Pfizer data will no be released for 55-75 years. How’s that for transparency?
Freedom does not come easily and we shall never relinquish it. Such proposal is dishonour to those who fought for freedoms, it is betrayal to those who have ever lived under tyranny, and it is an unimaginable let down to souls who may relive it. Consider Australians have literally sent out SOS videos regarding their own menacing governance. Your advocacy is a burden, which only creates MORE problems.
Active duty and retired police officers have collaborated Police On Guard For Thee to hamper irreversible damage, which includes unconstitutional public health orders – the very disruption you encourage! Police themselves understand WHY Australians plea. Citizens world wide fear their governance MORE than the virus. There certainly is substance, logic, truth and science from ‘the other side’.
Doctors, Nurses, Virologists also oppose measures and even the jab, but are ultimately hampered by the suppression of powerful industrial complex interests. Haven’t we seen “Control of information” in the past? Why does history repeat itself? It is time to pull your head out from under the sand. The fully vaccinated are being hospitalized too! So why all the division?
It is my greatest will that you be brought to NUREMBERG 2.0 trials when this is over.
I hope your dispatriotism, coercion & crimes against humanity will haunt you.
Kyle O’Connor, Huntsville.
Enno Kerckhoff,
Your rant is reminiscent of the Germans who wanted Jews rounded up because, “they carry typhus” which was, by the way, the excuse for rounding up the first of them and putting them into camps. Do you LIKE totalitarianism? Because that is what you are courting. The Nuremberg trials were conducted after WWII to call an end to what you are advocating.
There can never be ANY excuse, no matter how deadly the plague, for forced vaccination (and Covid really isn’t very deadly when you consider that the vast majority of people who have died have died with Covid rather than dying of it. In addition, even the vaccine developers have admitted that it really isn’t a very efficacious vaccine. We would have long-since reached the vaunted “herd immunity” without the vaccine. It is elementary to the science of vaccinology, that it runs counter to desired goals to vaccinate in the midst of a pandemic. All you succeed in doing is forcing variants. In addition, many, many young and healthy people have been harmed or killed by the injection. The CDC is up to approximately 20,000 deaths THAT HAVE BEEN RECORDED–and it is not very easy to report the deaths and injuries to the VAERS run by the CDC. Other vaccine programs were stopped after a couple dozen deaths. There are many other non-vaccine options to fighting this virus (and by all accounts, the Omicron variant which is poised to takeover, is very mild–much milder than the seasonal influenza). Be very careful what you invite–you may not like the results.
Well said, Mr. Mackenzie. I agree. Thank you for submitting this article. To Anna-Lise Kear and Enno Kerckhoff: I share your concerns.
We could reduce the numbers of people getting Covid if the government would follow the UK and reduce the period between 2nd shot & booster to 3 months.
Here it goes, a first for me….After years of treating Doppler as a valuable source of Community information !….and silently agreeing or disagreeing with various topics and comments….I’m finally jumping into the fray. This is far too critical an issue for me to stay silent.
I totally agree with Hugh ! I’m tired of our pandering to the selfish, uninformed and ANTISOCIAL minority who appear to be driving our current predicament with this virus.
Why should people be suffering…or even dying…because they can’t access the timely medical care they need to identify and treat their non-covid related issues…. due to facilities being overwhelmed, primarily by non-vacc’d Covid patients.
Vaccination should be mandatory, (listen up MAHC ! ) unqualified objectors should be penalized financially and any willfully non-vaccinated patient who shows up at the hospital with the virus should be assessed in ER, have explained to them…. patiently…why they can’t be vaccinated now …and sent home to quarantine. (perhaps with one of the new, promising treatment medicines.)
How much longer can we expect our healthcare providers to strain under the burden of what, thanks to proven effective vaccines, has evolved to be
a largely avoidable hospitalization. Even their superhuman efforts, for almost two years now, will have a breaking point and then what ? How many dollars must we divert to this avoidable surge out of our already straining hospital budget ?
There is such an angry chorus among the anti’s…with an unbelievable variety of creative, non-sensical reasons to not vacinate, it’s time we had an overwhelming vocal outcry with the SINGLE reason TO vaccinate…. IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO FOR SOCIETY !….and your neighbours and your co-workers. I’ve lost patience……
Mr. Mackenzie, I agree with about 98% of your commentary. So where is DF? Health is under Provincial jurisdiction. Where is the leadership? DF has one daughter quite willing to continue the silliness of misinformation via social media, very unfortunate. He shows no signs of reigning her in. And so it continues.
Time and again, his government’s response is too little too late. Even Keirnan Moore can advise, wish his powers were acted on, but that requires the political willingness of a leader and party to Lead!
DF and his party seem to learn reluctantly, if at all – what a travesty.
June 2022 folks, please remove this party from office. Please vote for any other party (AOP).
The populism may seem to be under control with a change in his office advisor, but public health is abandoned.
Developer DF is the only area of governing he seems willing to act – pro-actively rolling over environmental legislation and guidelines.
Perhaps E O’T can make some headway with encouraging federal MPs to freely identify their vaccination status. Otherwise, it is a Provincial focus concerning mandatory vaccinations.