Can We Be Canadian About Vaccine Division? – Let’s Apologize

It’s crazy to watch. Being on the road during the last 2+ years with minor stopovers in Canada, I’ve had an outside view of the pandemic response. From the introduction of the Covid-19 virus to the initial lockdowns, the vaccine rollout, the vaccine mandates, and now the protests against those mandates, I’ve been an outsider to it all.

If you’ve somehow avoided the 24-hour news cycle, let me give you a brief overview.

In Canada, a wedge has been driven between the people. If you get vaccinated, you are good. If you don’t get vaccinated, you are bad. Quite bad.

I’m not saying this is what I, or you, think about unvaccinated people but that’s what the media is saying. Correct?

And recently protesters descended upon Ottawa to protest their freedom. They blocked borders with the US nationwide and took up residence in major cities across Canada demanding an end to all pandemic mandates and restrictions.

Their presence was labelled a national security threat and the federal government decided to give itself extra powers (The Emergencies Act) to deal with the protestors.

Unvaccinated People are Evil

Now, I don’t know how many unvaccinated people you know personally. I don’t know many to be fair, but going by the ones that I know well:

• They aren’t selfish
• They aren’t right-wing white supremacists
• They don’t have some grand conspiracy theory (okay, I’ve met a couple that do)
• They don’t reject science

They’re normal people. They have families. They enjoy a beer on the weekend. They wish winter was over and most of all, they wish they could work and participate in society. Is it time we welcome them back?

“But unvaccinated people are a danger to society.”

Are Unvaccinated People Dangerous?

They are unlikely to bite you, stab you, or football tackle you in the street. They pose no immediate physical danger.

The real question though, is are they more likely to contribute to the pandemic than vaccinated people?

When asking this question we might raise a few concerns. Let’s do some critical thinking.

1. Are unvaccinated people more likely to die from Covid-19?

Let’s take a look at Covid-19 deaths by vaccination status in Canada.

For reference, the chart was produced by Statista using the official numbers from the Government of Canada.

If we take a quick look at the numbers, two things become clear: deaths are overwhelmingly attributed to unvaccinated people, and full vaccination does not provide full protection against Covid-19.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story.

The dates used in this data set are from December 14, 2020 until January 30, 2022.

December 14, 2020 is the day that the vaccine rollout began in Canada. At the start of this day, 0 Canadians were vaccinated and every Covid-19 death would be counted as unvaccinated.

That’s a vitally important piece of information that will undoubtedly sway the statistics.

Unfortunately, the government is no longer making available recent data for deaths by vaccination status so we can’t get an accurate picture of the current state of things. All of the data that they make available on deaths by vaccination status dates back to December 14, 2020. We can’t see, for example, the deaths in the last month by vaccination status.

Manitoba provides data by vaccination status over the last 6 weeks (today is February 25, 2022). This gives a more accurate picture of the current situation. In the last 6 weeks there were 216 Covid-19 deaths.

Using percentages, the unvaccinated accounted for 22% of the deaths, while the 2-dose and 3-dose population accounted for 75%. At current in Manitoba, the unvaccinated account for 14% of the population. They have a slightly higher representation in Covid-19 deaths.

Manitoba is a relatively small sample for the country, but one thing is evidently clear: vaccination does not prevent death from Covid-19.

So, to return to the initial question, are unvaccinated people more likely to die from Covid-19 than vaccinated people?

Possibly, but only slightly. A release of full federal government data would help clear up some of the confusion.

2. Are unvaccinated people more likely to be a strain on our health care system?

If we return to the Manitoba data, the numbers are almost identical for hospitalizations. Unvaccinated people make up 23% of hospitalizations, whereas 2+ dose individuals account for 72% of hospitalizations over the past 6 weeks.

Again, slight overrepresentation of unvaccinated people as compared to the general population. But also again, the overwhelming majority of people being hospitalized with Covid-19 are fully vaccinated and boosted individuals.

It’s evident that hospitalizations and deaths from Covid at this time should not be blamed on the unvaccinated. And again, if the federal government would release similar data, we could see the trends for the entire country.

But the question, are unvaccinated people more likely to be a strain on our health care system?

Possibly, but again only slightly.

3. Are unvaccinated people more likely to spread the disease to a vulnerable person?

Perhaps then, the case for removing unvaccinated people from society is that they spread the virus to vulnerable vaccinated populations who then end up with hospitalizations and deaths.

Recent studies have shown that vaccinated individuals are transmitting the virus at a rate that is similar to the unvaccinated population. (There are 4 separate studies there).

Vaccination against Covid-19 doesn’t stop transmission and it doesn’t stop infection. Is it time we stop holding our unvaccinated population hostage?

4. We all stepped up and did our part, why should we reward unvaccinated people?

Perhaps you’re frustrated that you did what the government and media asked you to do, and some people didn’t. And perhaps you feel that these people should suffer some form of consequences.

Let me ask you this. Is being outcast by their country, their friends, their family members, losing their jobs, and living with the imposed stigma of being unvaccinated punishment enough? Is it a reward to be allowed to work or watch your child’s hockey game?

Firstly, I’d say there’s nothing to be punished for. There was some evidence at the beginning of the pandemic to suggest that vaccinated people did have better protection from hospitalization and death. The same cannot be said with certainty now.

The narrative was always spun to suggest that the unvaccinated are the reason for all of the country’s problems. Hell, if there was a shortage of hockey pucks in NHL rinks, CBC would find a way to make it the unvaccinated people’s fault.

But the narrative also conveniently left out important information like comorbidities and factors like age, health status, and obesity problems when reporting data. It was always the unvaccinated people’s fault.

And that’s not fair, nor accurate.

In the US, 95% of Covid-19 deaths are accompanied by other factors, or comorbidities like cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, kidney failure, and injuries. Only 5% of Covid-19 deaths are attributed to Covid-19 alone.

Obesity is a factor in Covid-19 hospitalization and death as well. A CDC study found that 78% of Covid-19 hospitalizations were in overweight or obese people. That number may sound alarming but roughly 73% of Americans are overweight or obese. So obese people are only slightly overrepresented in the stats, similar to the way the unvaccinated are.

Are we to remove overweight people from society as well to lower the burden on our health care system? Of course not. Maybe it’s time to rethink why we’re doing it to unvaccinated people as well.

I think it’s time to drop our guards and embrace our fellow Canadians once again.

Why is it So Hard to Reconcile?

The same as when you fight with your spouse, siblings, or best friends about whose right, it can be difficult to let your defenses down and accept that mistakes have been made. It’s easy to latch on to your argument even when you see the flaws in it.

But should stubbornness and ego be the reason we continue to keep unvaccinated people on the margins of society?

Side note: I hate the terms unvaccinated or anti-vaxxer. It implies that these individuals are against vaccines or don’t have any which is mostly untrue. Most of the ‘unvaccinated’ are only against the Covid-19 vaccine and I’d argue that they have justifiable cause.

But just because some of us took the vaccine and some of us didn’t, doesn’t mean we have to be at odds with each other. We’re gonna have to move past our steadfast positions and reconcile at some point. Right?

Right?

Why not now? With the state of our world today and the massive amounts of division let’s reunite. I’m tired of seeing division and hate, especially in Canada. That’s not the country I remember. Let’s get back to doing what Canadians do best, apologizing and smiling – together.

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