Alberta’s bizarre and dangerous experiment in vaccine rationing began yesterday with the appearance of a website where Albertans can register to be considered for COVID-19 immunization sometime in the fall if any vaccine is left. You might get vaccinated, or you might not.
By the way, most of you who manage to get an appointment to be immunized will have to pay for it. No one in Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government is saying yet how much you’ll have to pay. They dropped a hint last month it might be $110. Once again, maybe, maybe not. Could be less; could be more.
They’re also going to make you go through the same excessively bureaucratic process to get an influenza shot this fall, by the way, but no one will have to pay for that one … yet.
So you should go to BookVaccine.Alberta.ca now to register for Alberta’s answer to Lotto 6/49 for people who are, as American comedian Stephen Colbert put it the other night in a routine about vaccination policy south of the Medicine Line, “fans of living.”
No one knows exactly how Premier Smith’s perverse experiment in vaccine rationing will end, but you can count on it that it’ll end badly.
University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young yesterday called the new website the start of “the Vaccine Games.”
Mulling over how to describe this disaster in the making today, it occurred to me this could be called the formal beginning of UCP Death Panels.
Anyway, both sort of capture the spirit of the moment as Ms. Smith’s government goes about implementing what it called in a press release in June a “new approach to COVID-19 immunizations,” even if neither gets it quite right.
Dr. Young’s little joke notwithstanding, there is no competition to see who will be allowed to get the vaccine, of which Alberta’s pure MAGA Government plans to order hundreds of thousands of doses fewer than will be required. Just chaos. No one really knows what the mechanism will be for choosing who gets it.
We do know, as Alberta journalist Andrew Nikiforuk pointed out in The Tyee a week ago, “the Smith government has reduced the volume of available vaccine by nearly 250,000 doses. Last year the province administered 750,000 doses — largely to people over 50 years of age. This year the province has ordered only 485,000 doses, a 30 per cent reduction. That means a quarter of the population, again mostly the elderly, that wants the vaccine will not find it available.”
But it’s far too optimistic to hope there’s anything as well organized as a death panel behind this chaotic mess, or for that matter any kind of a panel. Frankly, I’d be surprised the cowed officials running this gong show for the UCP have any idea yet how they’re going to determine who gets the vaccine and who doesn’t.
The process is perversely – and clearly intentionally – complicated. It is obviously intended to discourage as many people as possible from getting the vaccine.
You’ll have to go to a limited number of public health clinics to get a shot. No more quick visits to a nearby pharmacy. “This decision makes no sense; it instead creates unfair barriers to those who work shifts, lack transportation, or are unable to get to vaccine-delivery locations,” wrote a group of public health experts in an Edmonton Journal op-ed last week.
“This ‘new approach’ creates obstacles to immunization against a serious vaccine-preventable disease that caused over 380 deaths last year — and unfairly disadvantages Albertans who would receive COVID shots free of charge anywhere else in the country,” the authors of the op-ed wrote.
“This policy is so bad that it’s actually worse than their usual failure to plan properly,” former Alberta chief medical officer of health James Talbot told Mr. Nikiforuk. “In fact, it is so bad it looks like they are actually planning to fail.”
You may wonder, Why the hell would a Canadian government do that? Well, Ms. Smith, her seldom-heard-from minister of preventative health services, Adriana LaGrange, or anyone in the UCP is certainly not going to tell us.
However, we can knowledgeably speculate:
First, everything Ms. Smith does is about her party’s next Annual General Meeting, where the people her predecessor Jason Kenney called “lunatics” are running the asylum. She knows very well that, just as the party’s anti-vaxx MAGA base ran Mr. Kenney out of town on a rail, they can do the same thing to her at the AGM. So if a few seniors have to die from COVID-19 to keep her on the job, so be it. That’s certainly part of this story.
Second, as Ms. Smith made obvious before her return to politics, during the years she toiled as a far-right radio talk show host, she is a crank and a vaccine conspiracy theorist enamoured of quack cures when it comes to COVID-19. Since she became premier, this kind of thinking has infected the entire government.
I would not be at all surprised if Ms. Smith hopes – even expects – that if we only infect enough people with COVID, we’ll reach herd immunity, just as was promised back in 2020 by the signatories to the now discredited Great Barrington Declaration – Dr. Johnny Fartpants, Dr. Person Fakename, Professor Notaf Uckingclue, and all the rest of them. And if the experiment fails and a bunch more seniors die, I’m sure she’s confident she can come up with an excuse people will believe.
Third, as Ms. Smith wrote in 2021 and has been acting on since becoming premier, she believes the secret to reforming health care, by which she clearly means privatizing it, is the introduction of fees and co-pays to soften the Canadian public up for the coming of U.S. style pay-to-survive health care.
What it’s not about, Ms. Smith’s claims to the contrary, is saving money or preventing waste of vaccine. This, as the authors of the op-ed pointed out, is a red herring since up to now Ottawa, not Alberta, has been paying for the vaccine doses. Moreover, vaccine manufacturers have now mostly changed their packaging to single-dose units, eliminating the problem entirely where implemented.
Obviously, Albertans need to tell their MLAs – especially their UCP MLAs, who are the ones who are enabling this lunacy – that they need to smarten up and follow national guidelines, and that their wanton disregard for the safety of others to suit a tiny minority MAGA fanatics at their AGM has been duly noted.
And if you’re a fan of living, let me say it again: you’d better go to BookVaccine.Alberta.ca or dial Health Link 811 now, or you may discover that you’re not eligible to receive the vaccine at all, no matter how vulnerable you are.
COVID-19 vaccines should be available for every Albertan who wants one. They should be available at pharmacies as well as public health clinics. And they should be free to all.
Alberta public health policy should be about health, not MAGA politics inside the UCP.
Heard about this process here and through r/alberta
Daaaaammmn, but that’s an awkward and protracted process. And just to register!?!
Egg…Zactly.
So where the ‘ell are the JCCF, the ” Charter of rights ‘ people??The Constitutional Rights group?
Why are they, not standing up for Albertans.? They are always screeching about freedom, well shouldn’t Albertans have the same rights as the rest of Canadians and get free vaccines. Why are Albertans the only ones having to pay. Isn’t that discrimination?
They can make a big enough fuss over some d’rumper wanting attention bad enough to get a fine for ( over something that has happened on numerous occasions back east when I lived there— nothing new, except now, more Ditchbillies with nothing better to do than try to create “poor me, I’m a victim” donate here… for the poor suckers that will.)
Why aren’t they standing up for Albertans rights? Why are they not DEMANDING that the Premier do her duty for ALL the people of the province. Why is she discriminating against some of them?
I suppose this is where Marlaina’s plans to set up the go fund me to get medical care is supposed to kick in?? She has said on numerous occasions that Albertans would get used to paying out of pocket. Promise made, promise kept.
Someone should find out if any UCP members are signed up and if taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill for them? Of course there’s a double standard.
Just a thought– if I heard right, one of the topics on the Mexico excursion/ trade talks was pharmaceuticals…..if I put on my $ store foil hat, I could come up with all kinds of interesting theories.
Sam I am….green eggs and ham!
If I had nothing better to do, I’d be sitting around at the airport around the international flights lounge to see who feels like a trip to Mexico is viable, now that the federal ministers and Charlie Angus have all come and gone. Awkward situation avoided, right? Charlie calling out the fascists/ thugs etc might have had a few ears burning. Just a thought–
Not having enough vaccines for the population and charging around a $100 a shot will cause more deaths of those who don’t have money and live at the lower end of the money train. It is one way of eliminating poverty–let the poor die. Don’t expect any one in the wealthier parts of Calgary to not receive a vaccine. It going to be interesting to see who gets the vaccines and who doesn’t. Sure hope Smith doesn’t decide COVID, the measles, and the new virus which will work its way here as the new small pox.
Living in B.C. I receive a text on a regular basis advising my vaccine is waiting at my pharmacy. I get my vaccine at no cost and off I go. When measles arrived in Canada, remember never had it. Went to the pharmacy, got a measles vaccine shot. Wonder what Smith is going to do if children start dying hand over fist due to a lack of vaccine and their parents have a lack of money to pay for them. I do really wonder what some of those Alberta politicians are doing for brains and hearts. Oh well, what goes around comes around.
Didn’t the Titanic make its maiden voyage with too few lifeboats?
Oh, what I wouldn’t do for a “Like” button for this post …
Thank you for providing the link, David. It took 15 minutes, but I believe I am now registered.
I did find it interesting that when registering one of the questions asked about my sex, and gave four alternatives: male, female, other and prefer not to answer. I will be curious to see if those choices remain after Ms. Smith’s MAGA base see that. (What am I thinking? – they aren’t going to register anyway!)
As I went through the process, there was next to nothing said about payment for the Covid shot; just a single line saying there may be a fee. If the fee does prove to be $110 as has been suggested, it is really easy to see how people will order the vaccine, then not follow through with it when they find out how much they will have to pay. Danielle Smith’s initial argument for the fee was because of how many vaccine doses were wasted in the past; getting people to sign up for the vaccine, then springing the fee on them, doesn’t really seem like a solution.
As you suggested, the process seemed pretty convoluted. After registering for vaccine notifications, I had to click on a link to go to the appointment page, where I had to reenter a lot of the same information I had already entered. Then the only button to click on for an appointment appeared to be for people wanting a children appointment. Initially it appeared I was only eligible for 3 vaccines: Tdap, Pneumococcal and RSV, then a separate page came up offering Covid and the flu. It really does make you wonder if the system was designed to discourage use.
Like you suggested, at the end of the process I was advised that pre-ordering my vaccine does not guarantee me an appointment. Will someone else get my vaccine?
Wow. I think you and I found different forms. What I filled out was only for Covid and flu. No gender identity questions, no links to making an appointment. What’s up with that?
Tammy: My wife and I had the same experience. There are definitely different forms in there, accessible in different ways. The whole thing is a gong show – intentionally, I believe. DJC
The question about sex is pre-selective. I bet anyone who checks neither male nor female, automatically gets dropped from the lottery.
IMO that’s all ridiculous nonsense. Sorry you had to experience, that.
Even a large proportion of “anti-vaxxers” (or vaccine/Big Pharma skeptics which is probably closer for many) will say that seniors and the vulnerable should be provided free COVID vaccines at the “just show up at your pharmacy/doctor’s with your health care” level. This is between them and their doctor. Or should be.
Dancing through hoops then not knowing the end cost of such is what is known as “barriers to service” and are there deliberately to reduce government costs, services and increase profit levels for private corporations.
This clearly falls under that category.
Never let it be said that Dixie Dani couldn’t screw up something simple at every possible level whenever the worst option is available.
Just to be sure, I ordered extra. I mean, we learned about limited supply in 2020. Doing my bit to protect the fam. That reminds me, my supply of flour and #10 cans of fruit is running low.
Yep, for my part I couldn’t make any bookings but it did ask me how many doses I will need, so I put down 4 for my family. No questions asked about gender, Alberta Health #, or anything else. As far as I can tell nothing stopping me from going in again and “ordering” up another 4 doses, nor the family ordering some on their own. I tried several different ways and it ended up in the same path. This is unconscionable – where is the Federal government in all of this? Aren’t we guaranteed health care in this country? I immigrated to Canada; I definitely didn’t immigrate to this dumpster fire of a province. Living here is a mistake that I am increasingly tempted to correct.
I echo the “what a convoluted mess” trying to pre order. Eventually I think I did & through connect care but who the hell knows
Good thing the UCP/TBA government hates all that red tape.
Yeah, well we here on this comment board know well enough that when a government (most often a conservative government or pro-business) say that they want to eliminate red tape, what they really mean is that they want to eliminate it for themselves and their fellow-travelers. They usually want to increase it for others. Case in point here.
Marlaina’s contempt for science will kill people. Even worse, this seems to be the intent of her doing everything she can to prevent people from getting vaccines. Is there some point at which this evil crosses the line from ideological hatred to criminal malfeasance? The UCP death cult is a clear and present danger to all those who, as Stephen Colbert says, are “fans of living.”
One may also reserve one’s influenza vaccine via BVA. Smiths’ government is so ahead of MAGA on many philosophical fronts, although a bit behind on implementing storm troopers in the cities.
It’s so complicated to get this service that the most vulnerable will be most challenged to receive any vaccine. Woe to those who have no one to help them navigate through the ‘Berta-verse, because if the UCP like the results, they’ll look at new ways to withhold even the most basic health services.
At least CVS Pharmacies, USA still offer the COVID vaccine with an incentive – a $10 to $20 coupon after receiving it.
Meanwhile, we’re on the hook for another international government junket. If one thinks having the or government party leader as their riding representative is beneficial…it’s a case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot because the leader neglects their constituents, too.
Smith knows that her base are immunization no go’s, ergo some of them will die. These are votes that will be lost forever and there were some very close races in a handful of constituencies. Smith has to eliminate some votes on the other side of the ledger. Hence, the reduction in vaccines. Some may think I am being cynical. I am skeptical and realistic.
You need a CT scan. You’re a Conspiracy Theorist. Lol
Because UCP Alberta is directly threatening the lives of its citizens through this disgraceful policy, and the province is restricting access to a vaccination available to all other citizens across the country, does Canada Health not have a role to play here to enforce national standards?
Not one UCP MLA, their relatives, or their staff should be allowed to get a Covid vaccine until every other Albertan who wants one has received it, whether or not they can afford to pay.
I hope there are at least a few enterprising injury lawyers out there who will take cases on a contingency basis for those who are harmed by not being able to get vaccinated.
As long as we are covered by wcb. Right to refuse unsafe work. Duty of the employer. Right to refuse visitors and family who are sick.when a facility is on outbreak should people be forced to put themselves at risk because you couldn’t look after yourself or stay home. Can the facility refuse you because you have a communicable disease? Think about it. If I am forced to get vaccinated as an employee, isn’t this a danger to me, it is to you danger pay I should be worth a lot more to you. You pay sports people a lot because their careers are short?im thinking about medical staff,teachers, grocery workers, bar staff, some restaurants,rec center, gov services, jails, courts, ,Last time employers saw fit to tell you how to live your life outside of work hours, ie you can’t have another job, you can’t car pool , can’t share food, can’t sit together too many people in one room, don’t goto this event too crowded, don’t invite people over, . My work life went from 7-3 to 24 hrs. $110. Might be cheaper.
Queen Danielle is not exactly a Luddite. She’s more like one of those people who are about being performative, as opposed to doing the adult thing and responsible thing. Like her base, she has gaslit herself to be believing that UnWoke is everything. Her social-media feeds give her the regular dopamine hits to get through life, blissfully unaware that she could be screwing up everything. If it feels good, do it. That’s all Smith’s reptilian brain cares about.
Seem like needless red tape to me.
COVID is not like the flu – it doesn’t peak in the winter months. As we saw with Kenney’s Best Summer Ever (or whatever he called it), COVID spikes in late August and into September. I’m already hearing from mulitple people who are getting sick and testing positive for COVID. This month. This week. Today. Not only has the UCP created this stupid and cumbersome process for accessing a COVID vaccine in the fall, but they’ve stopped all COVID vaccinations now. Try getting a shot. No vaccine available until October. This is incompetence and a dereliction of duty.
Possible options for selecting vaccine recipients:
UCP MLAs;
UCP family and friends;
UCP donors;
UCP members;
followed by federal Conservatives in the same fashion.
The premier could be like Santa Claus, making lists and checking them twice for the naughty and nice. Who will get lumps of Alberta anthracite, other than Gina Rinehart?
Now another way to deter any randos who make it through the cull by fluke would be to make Calgarians travel to a health clinic in Fort McMurray (kind of like an extreme version of gerrymandering) and make them travel to a second location, like La Crete, for the flu vaccine, on a second date after flu season is well along in the depths of winter. Even better if spouses or those sharing a household are assigned separate locations on separate dates as far away from where they live as possible.
How amusing! Jump, little minions, jump higher!
To paraphrase an interviewee in a recent New Yak Times article about measles in Alberta, “It’s mild. It’s so mild that my child only had to stay in the hospital twice for it. That’s nothing!”
I wonder if it would help for us all to contact our federal reps? I think vaccines are paid for by federal
Government ( not provincial) and have been promised to ALL Canadians.
I’m just waiting to see how much more these UCP anti-vaccine fanatics are going to get away with. It’s not just that, though, it’s other aspects of healthcare, like medical treatment for trans kids and probably soon, restricted access to abortions and MAID. They have meddled with sexual health teaching in schools, and I pray to God they don’t cancel HPV and Hep B shots in schools, which have been modern medical miracles.
The Smith government has stepped way out of their lane, directing medical treatment, which they clearly don’t have the credentials to do. They are relying on some fancied “authority” to do so but they don’t have that, either. People in this country, all people, have a right to protect themselves from communicable diseases by way of vaccines. I would think this interference could and should be challenged as per our constitutional rights. Health legislation, national and provincial also says that there should be no financial barriers to necessary health care. And vaccines are necessary health care. Smith does not get to decide which ones are okay and which ones are not. She is not an infectious disease specialist. Not to mention her self-declared libertarianism and the UCP’s continual tantrums about “freedom” and people’s right to choose- what happened to that concept?
I’m curious about her appointee as CMOH – Dr. Sookram. Does he not have a clearly defined legal obligation to the people of Alberta? Where is he? Does he just sign off on whatever policy these UCP nut jobs come up with? Does he think this Covid vaccine policy is going to help curb the spread of the next wave and prevent sickness and deaths? Is he proud of being the CMOH of the place with the most rampant Red Measles cases in all of North America? A disease that previous health care professionals in this province worked their tails off to eradicate? Is he going to add that to his CV?
Appalling health policies by this government. Brutal political interference. You’re right, David, the UCP MLA’s need to be reamed out by their constituents and all constituents of Alberta. At every opportunity- phone calls, letters, at their local grocery stores, and rodeos. Church. Wherever they show their cowardly faces. They should not get away with this.
@Betts,
You bring up an interesting point. Since libertarian sorts are all for “freedom”–where’s the freedom to GET the vaccine for those who want it?
Where’s the freedom for people to decide what they need in their own best interests recommended by their *doctors*?
Shouldn’t the freedom belong to the patient/citizens–not her government?
Found (eventually) on the Health Canada website, a page about the Canada Health Act:
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/canada-health-care-system-medicare/canada-health-act.html
with an email address for inquiries “ about a health insurance issue or the act:”
medicare.spb.chad-dlcs.dgps.assurance.maladie@hc-sc.gc.ca
I just sent this email to the Canada Health Act Division of Health Canada.
“The UCP government has implemented its vaccine registration program. It seems deliberately designed to limit access to Covid vaccines specifically, and perhaps flu vaccines as well.
“They’ already announced they’re buying 30% less Covid vax doses than last year, and that priority will be given to those most at risk from the disease. The general public will get the jab on an “as-available” basis. Furthermore, most Albertans will have to pay for the vaccine out of pocket.
“Does this not constitute deliberate rationing of health care? Is this not a violation of the Canada Health Act?
“I await your reply.
“Sincerely,
“Mike J. Danysh”
This might be the first step in a formal complaint against Smith’s government for violating the Canada Health Act. We’ll see what happens.
Thanks, Mike. I just sent my email to the address you supplied…added similar concerns and…
“Oh, and please ensure/guarantee me that Premier Smith cannot purchase the COVID vaccines from a ‘discount’ supplier…because she would do her best to buy low$$ and sell high$$.”
We need to deluge that Health Canada site with letters, and the federal health minister as well. Why are they so silent in the face of this atrocious policy? Dani doesn’t care if the poor die as long as she is rich and comfy. She’s the one who said meat tainted with E. Coli should be fed to the poor. Are there no UCP MLAs with the cojones and the conscience to cross the floor over this disgraceful vaccine policy? Can we travel to Saskatchewan or B.C. and ask for the covid shot on the grounds that we are refugees from a fascist government whose leader doesn’t care who among us dies of covid as long as her minions keep her as queen? Why doesn’t Health Canada crack down on these fascists?
It appears that sometimes an increase in ‘red tape’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tape
is desirable as long as the highly valued doctrinal system is being promoted and where doublethink ( “the acceptance of or mental capacity to accept contrary opinions or beliefs at the same time, especially as a result of political indoctrination” ), is one of its salient features.
For example,
“A press release from the province about the red tape reduction milestone says that Alberta’s government aims to regulate “only when needed and with the lightest touch possible” to ensure the health and safety of Albertans and protect the province’s environment.”
“Dr. Nigel Bankes, a professor emeritus in the law faculty at the University of Calgary, pointed to the E. Coli outbreak that infected hundreds of children in Calgary last September, and the tailings leak at Imperial Oil’s Kearl oilsands mine, as potential public hazards that accumulate when the government relentlessly pursues regulation cutting.”
“The UCP’s accounting only has a credit column: costs cut — easy to calculate; there is no similar column for harms suffered,” he said in an email to the Gazette. “One is measurable, the other is hard. And because it is hard it gets a zero in the debit column.”
https://www.airdriecityview.com/local-news/albertas-red-tape-cut-by-33-per-cent-says-nally-8199071
Recently seen on a box of KN95 respirators: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”
Danielle Smith must have seen that box and read, “You’ve got to be cruel to be kind. It’s a very, very, very good sign.”
Thanks, Nick Lowe. You saw her coming.
I have no doubt that UCP members will not only get theirs for free, but they will be at the front of the line. Them and of course, the family members they care about.
This vaccine policy is outrageous and homicidal in my opinion. It’s as if Smith is actively trying to make people sick and kill others. Yet, Albertans will suck it just as they do with other stupid, dangerous, and corrupt things the UCP has done over the years. I predicted this would happen years ago, and everyone told me I was exaggerating and it would never happen.
Guaranteed they deny vaccine shots to all applicants over 82 years of age, and living in Alberta’s 2 poorest postal codes. Gotta love eugenics.
Fortunately, there’s no indication that the UCP is planning to limit access to Ivermectin. That would really rile up their base.
This UCP government seems to be trying to kill Albertans. How does a low income family of 5 or 6 pay over $100 for each dose? How do you decide which of your kids gets a shot and who will look after them if you forego your own shots and get sick?
This absolutely should not be happening. Think this through. Who pays for the vaccines when they are purchased from the company that makes them? The Government of Canada. And where does the Government of Canada get its spending money? Canadians’ taxes. We paid for the vaccines when the federal government bought them. The feds send them to the provinces. The provinces distribute them. Except Alberta. The UCP is going to charge Albertans a second time for the vaccines. I wonder what they’ll do with all that extra money… Remember, WE ALREADY PAID FOR THE VACCINES. The UCP is double-dipping into our wallets and leaving the most vulnerable in society at great risk. Intentionally. Deliberately. What will it take to get Albertans off their couches and into the streets? We have a terrible, awful, corrupt, callous, cruel, bigoted, entitled, greedy, dishonest government that wants to take us out of confederation. And Albertans are all “meh”.
It would appear queen Dani has gone full magat (maggot?) and decided regardless of what the charter says, regardless of what the health act says, regardless what the law says and common decency demands, she’s going to ignore it completely because she believes consequences are never coming. As king trumps delusional grasps at ultimate power continue to face challenges from governors, indigenous nations, nation states, and his own judiciary, they will likely become even more reactionary in alberta as they see their window of opportunity closing.
To borrow one of the premiers favourite phrases “look” the time for polite objection has long passed in alberta. It’s high time we start suing some folks, it’s high time we join indigenous nations in their legal challenges. We still have some institutions in alberta, to me, it looks like those unions and civil society groups need to start spending some money on litigation.
Folks who work in non – partisan bureaucracy need to start standing up to their elected bosses. You know it’s illegal or at least immoral, well guess what if you follow through on it you’re complicit. “I was only following orders” is not a valid defence. Work slower, lose important documents, leak other important documents, “forget” to do other important things your bosses want. They need you; and not a single albertan needs them for anything.
This the same Danielle Smith who wasted $75 million on children’s cold medicine, $2.2 million on Preston Manning and his lies about the COVID Pandemic, god only knows how much Jim Dinning has pocketed trying to steal our Canada Pension Plan and $142 million settling a coal industry lawsuit we were told and now she wants to privatize the issuing of COVID shots while she praises what Ralph Klein did to us with his privatization tactics that’s how stupid we are for supporting these Reformers isn’t it?
For those of us over 65, we should be getting 2 doses, as per the advice of the USA Centers for Disease Control, as of April 2025. The level of immunity from vaccinations wanes too much. The data on this waning was showing up in 2023, so I’ve been getting 2 in each of last 2 years, after checking the USA CDC recommendations.
And of course UCP has probably ordered wayyyyy too few for any of us to get a second one.
https://ihpi.umich.edu/news-events/news/investing-covid-19-vaccination-more-paid-us-study-finds
EXCERPT: ‘She notes that the current CDC recommendation is for everyone over the age of 6 months to get at least one dose of one of the three updated vaccines that became available in September 2023 and are now updated annually. So far, about 30 million have done so, including about 30% of people age 65 and older, who are at highest risk of severe COVID-19 if they become infected.
For people who are age 65 and older, or immunocompromised because of a health condition or treatment, the CDC recommends a second dose of the current vaccine six months after the first.
That means that people who got the updated vaccine soon after it came out in September should now go get a second dose.’
Also, of course, numerous studies have documented the cost savings of Covid vaccinations to society, from the outset of vaccinations.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X25000222
Highlights
•
Vaccination of the adult population against COVID-19 illness during 2021 was cost-saving compared to no vaccination.
•
Incentive programs such as lotteries and bonuses also demonstrated favorable cost-effectiveness results.
•
The government investment in R&D for COVID-19 vaccination can be justified when using a conservative economic analysis.
A few minutes ago, I contacted 811 to inquire about a covid shot.
811 is a call center, located in somewhere, I didn’t ask.
The call was answered within a few minutes.
I had three specific questions:
-cost, as in dollars
-availability
-timing, as in when the shot would be administered
She could answer none of the questions.
But she wanted to “pre-register” me for: something she had zero information about.
She asked me to provide a cell number or an email.
I said, why would I provide you with this information if you cannot provide me with the basic answers to my three questions above.
She had no answer to this question from me. I asked how her day was going. She said something like ‘it’s been better’.
I said something about needing good government. She said nothing.
She reminded me me of someone who desperately needs the job of being yelled at all the time and knows her responses are being monitored.
So.
At the end of the day, the answer to my three questions above is- I Don’t Know.
Who trusts this government?
811, aka Alberta HealthLink, has offices in both Edmonton and Calgary, and is staffed by Registered Nurses employed — for now, at least — by Alberta Health Services, and represented by United Nurses of Alberta.
But HealthLink nurses can only give callers the information available to them, and since this crazy COVID vaccination scheme is being dictated by the Government of Alberta, not AHS, and the Government has a hate on for AHS and is in the process of dismantling it, like a roasted turkey at a soup kitchen, they don’t really have much more information than the rest of us do.
OMFG, the really scary part, for silent souls in rural Alberta who dare not speak out, is that our neighbours, friends, and family cannot see any of this. “Alberta’s pure MAGA Government” and enablers. Blame the stupid ones!
Another disaster from the UCP train wreck and another no reaction from Nenshi.
Are we ever in good hands.
You should stop spreading misinformation. A simple google check will show that the Alberta NDP has consistently opposed Smith’s and the UCP’s Covid policy, including most recently this: https://www.albertandpcaucus.ca/news/post/statement-anti-science-vaccination-and-public-health-ucp-government-putting-albertans-at-risk
Andrea: In fairness to Carlos, many long-term NDP voters, myself included, are extremely troubled and frustrated by the NDP’s passive response to the UCP’s worst policies and the leader’s apparent preference for town hall meetings over action. There are mechanisms available to Mr. Nenshi to get in front of the media and make these important points more effectively than sending out a news release and patting himself on the back for a job well done. I would say Carlos’s comments reflect not an attempt to misinform but sincere concern that reflects widespread popular disillusionment with the Nenshi NDP. Mr. Nenshi needs to be mindful of that and respond appropriately. Calling out voters like Carlos will not make them change their minds. It will make them shrug and look for other voting alternatives, or not vote at all. DJC
Andrea maybe my comment was not clear enough but I can assure you that I do not spread misinformation. In fact I do not have any account in social media because I simply cannot identify with it and all the corrupt and shocking new world of news and political exchange.
Thank you David for your excellent reply. It is exactly how most of us feel about the Nenshi NDP.
Nenshi seems to be oblivious to us. It is unfortunate because he will not win the next election if this strategy continues.
I just registered (what a pain) and then tried to book an covid immunization. I’m over 65 with a chronic health condition and three non-covid immunizations were displayed – a Covid immunization wasn’t even an option for me!!! I expect there’ll be plenty of lawsuits from those of us refused a covid vaccine (which should be free, just like all other vaccines and should be available to anyone, just like all other vaccines) who contract covid. This UCP government is pathetic and pathological.
DJC— I’m sorry, I know you’ve got your hands full with this, but i have a question. Here in BC are shots are still free. I checked the government website and one little note that caught my attention was that there was a “dispensary fee” to Pharmacare.
Okay 2 questions. Since DS cut the pharmacies out of administering the vaccines, just whom is getting that fee ?
Because if the Health Canada provides the vaccines to all the provinces, whose accounts are going the, let’s see, low ball $110 × 285,000 shots = a nice chunk of change, I’d say.
2. So if the government just ”created” this new program to register for your vaccine shots, isn’t that an intrusion of your personal medical data, patient confidentiality, something that the government ministers shouldn’t have access to, given their flouting of the laws, or conveniently changing them as needed.
Is this legal???
I personally would not trust this government with any personal information of mine.
And I seem to remember that a certain NDP MLA was compelled to resign for showing how easy it was to get into personal files (?). And if you’ve registered, your little book will be stamped “woke ideaologist “.
I’d like to think I’m just kidding, but the records speak for themselves….that is before they were scrubbed. But maybe I’m just being paranoid, hard to tell.
If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck, according to the UCP it’s not a libtard canard, it’s an alligator, tastes like chicken.
Randi-lee: I don’t know the answers to all these questions. I don’t know who is getting the fess that would have been paid to pharmacies, if anyone is. There was a complicated and bureaucratic (hence expensive) process to ensure shots administered by pharmacists were tracked. No one knows how that will compared to Alberta’s ridiculous new process. There may be some savings – at the cost of health system breakdown and unnecessary deaths. But my guess is that when the dust has settled, there will be no savings. Shitty websites don’t design themselves. Anyway, the point of the exercise is to suppress the use of COVID vaccines, because Danielle doesn’t believe in ’em because her hubby’s restaurant lost business during the pandemic. Depending on how you use the “pre-booking” form, no medical data is collected, just a phone number so they can text you and tell you it’s time to pre-book. But I already pre-booked, you thought? No, this is actually pre-pre-booking. DJC
A note to Premier Smith….
I hope you feel vindicated now, the most discriminated against Canadians are the people of Alberta, who believe in science and have to pay for their covid vaccines, while the rest of us get ours for free. BRAVO!! My family in Alberta feel so much better knowing how much you care about them!
This constitutes practising medicine without a licence.
Time for this government to be arrested and disbanded