Danielle Smith to Albertans: No way can you have free COVID vaccinations like every other Canadian

If you’d hoped Danielle Smith’s flip-flop from denying free COVID-19 vaccinations to health care workers to providing them might indicate she could also have a change of heart on vaccines for other Albertans, you can forget about it. 

Someone is going to have to pay for upsetting the United Conservative Party’s anti-vaccine base during the pandemic, and it sure looks as if it’s going to be those of us who made the poor little things uncomfortable by wearing masks and ensuring we were vaccinated during those difficult years.

So if you’re upset and worried that you or a loved one could die this fall or winter because of the UCP’s ignorance-based public health policies – ripped right from the pages of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s policy book south of the Medicine Line – that’s exactly how Ms. Smith wants you to feel, judging from her chippy answer at an unrelated news conference on Thursday. 

And you can rest assured this has nothing to do with saving money by eliminating “vaccine wastage,” as the government claimed in its “updated fall vaccine rollout” news release yesterday, since the likely result of encouraging COVID to run wild in the population just as this government sat by and allowed measles to get out of control will cost more than normal public health measures. 

In other words, this is a political decision intended to pander to the anti-vaccine component of the UCP’s MAGA base, probably only a few thousand people, potentially at great cost to literally millions of other Albertans.

The $100 “administration fee” Ms. Smith’s government now says it will charge for a life-saving COVID shot that is free in every other Canadian province may, however, also include the additional motivation of the premier’s clearly articulated wish to make us pony up co-pays and other cash fees to get us used to more privatization of the health care system. 

However, unlike all those other provinces and territories, it would appear that Alberta is the only Canadian jurisdiction that has a self-appointed amateur epidemiologist and immunologist for a premier who seems to think we should just shut up and take whatever medicine she prescribes – Ivermectin, maybe.

Or so it seemed after watching the bizarre expressions that flitted across Ms. Smith’s face during that news conference Thursday when CBC News provincial affairs reporter Michelle Bellefontaine slipped in a final question about British Columbia’s willingness to provide free COVID vaccinations for Albertans thanks to a reciprocal agreement among all provinces and territories. (Look for Alberta to raise a new anti-vaccine trade barrier soon by pulling out of that interprovincial program.) 

Apparently forgetting her other complaint about how Ottawa is always poking its nose into Alberta’s jurisdiction, the obviously irritated premier responded by repeating her complaint about how the feds are no longer paying for COVID vaccines. 

“The challenge is that fewer and fewer people each year are choosing to seek the COVID vaccine,” she said in her explaining voice, ignoring the fact her government’s own vaccine-suppression policies contributed significantly to that phenomenon. 

“So I can tell you, we don’t want to carry on with that kind of approach,” she continued, claiming that vaccine doses costing “about $284 million” had to be destroyed over the past three years – never mind that vaccine manufacturers have now changed their packaging to reduce waste. 

“And so that’s what we’re going to be doing, is assuring anyone who has pre-existing conditions over age 65, immunocompromised or living in a congregate setting, can get it for free,” she said. “Then anybody who wants it for peace of mind has the ability to pay for that,” she added dismissively. 

But why not pay for the shots as other provinces are all doing? wondered Ms. Bellefontaine.

“Well, you know, we’ll try it this way,” Ms. Smith chirped, shrugging. 

“This year, we are trying to mitigate costs because it is an expensive intervention,” she continued tendentiously. “We don’t pay for every vaccine. The shingles vaccine, for instance. We don’t pay for the RSV shot. We only just started paying for it for those over age 75. That’s a $300 shot. When people go traveling and need a yellow fever shot, they pay for that themselves. So we don’t pay 100 per cent of the cost of every vaccine. So we’re just trying to align our approach on COVID with the same approach that we’re taking on RSV.”

At that point, the staffer running the presser shut it down with the traditional declaration: “That’s all the time we have for questions today.”

As for yesterday’s news release, published without the inconvenience of a news conference at which reporters could ask additional questions, it described the government’s obvious effort to suppress vaccinations as a plan “to streamline access to immunization.”

“Phase 1 provides free vaccines to eligible Albertans,” the release said, omitting to mention that relatively few Albertans are eligible. “Phase 2 makes vaccines available to everyone else for an administration fee,” it continued, although $100 is not a mere administration fee, it is a significant barrier to immunization, clearly intended as such. 

“We are striking a balance between protecting vulnerable Albertans and preventing vaccine wastage,” Adriana LaGrange, Alberta’s seldom seen minister of preventative health services was quoted as saying. “We remain committed to ensuring Albertans who are at a higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 have access to vaccines.”

And if you are not at a higher risk, as defined by the UCP and not by a health professional, they have no interest in protecting you against this still-serious disease that anyone can catch. 

And by the way, with supplies of COVID vaccines already completely eliminated on UCP orders and no further vaccinations scheduled until October, it is probably already too late to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19 when schools reopen next month, just as happened with measles. 

Despite yesterday’s statement, it remains unclear if there will be enough vaccine for every Albertan who wants one. Arithmetic based on the Smith Government’s previously described plan to acquire 250,000 fewer doses than were administered last year suggests not. 

“The influenza vaccine remains available to all Albertans,” yesterday’s news release did say, although it too will no longer be available at pharmacies and will only be administered at a limited number of often inconveniently located public health clinics. 

It was not clear from the release whether there will also be an “administration fee” for the flu shot.