anti-vaccine

Wednesday March 6, 2024

The recent surge in measles cases in Canada, particularly in Montreal, underscores the urgent need to address vaccine hesitancy and combat anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, with historical evidence emphasizing the proven efficacy of vaccines in preventing disease and protecting public health.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 6, 2024

The Vital Role of Vaccines in Preventing Measles

The recent surge in measles cases in Canada, particularly in Montreal, underscores the urgent need to address vaccine hesitancy and combat anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, with historical evidence emphasizing the proven efficacy of vaccines in preventing disease and protecting public health.

News: Quebec reports 10 cases of measles in Montreal area, health officials urge vaccinations

December 2, 2021

The recent resurgence of measles in Quebec, with ten confirmed cases in Greater Montreal, serves as a stark reminder of the critical role vaccines play in public health. This outbreak, now the epicentre of a Canadian concern, has ignited discussions about the root causes, and it seems that vaccine hesitancy, fuelled by anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, is a significant factor.

As health officials scramble to contain the outbreak, the words of Quebec Public Health Director Luc Boileau echo with urgency. He warns that the disease could rapidly spread among the unvaccinated, emphasizing the need for swift action to address the situation. While Quebec currently does not mandate vaccination, the emphasis is on providing information, facilitating access to shots, and dispelling misconceptions.

November 30, 2021

The efficacy of vaccines, especially against measles, has been proven over the past 50 years. Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh, a paediatrician and infectious disease specialist, emphasizes the safety, efficiency, and quick action of the measles vaccine. Yet, despite decades of evidence supporting vaccination, a significant challenge remains – vaccine hesitancy.

In Montreal and its suburbs, vaccination coverage in schools hovers around 80%, below the 95% required to prevent community transmission. The reasons are varied, from delays in translating foreign vaccination records to vaccine hesitancy, a phenomenon exacerbated by limited access for newly arrived children.

September 15, 2021

The virus’s high contagion rate, coupled with potential complications, especially in young children, underscores the importance of immunization. The harm extends beyond the individual; the immune-compromised face severe consequences, making vaccination not just a personal choice but a communal responsibility.

The historical success of vaccines, including the measles vaccine, should guide our present actions. However, the current landscape is clouded by misinformation and skepticism, particularly regarding COVID-19 vaccines. The rise in anti-vaccine sentiment, as evidenced by the unfounded chatter on social media, suggests a broader problem.

December 11, 2020

A simple fact-checking response might aid in emphasing the importance of relying on scientific evidence and expert consensus, and not on quackery baked up in Tik-Toks and You Tube clip served up by snake oil agents. It counters the notion that mRNA vaccines, a breakthrough in the fight against COVID-19, are ineffective or overhyped. The evidence points to the contrary, highlighting the role of mRNA technology in reducing mortality rates and controlling the virus’s spread.

As we grapple with the resurgence of measles and the challenges posed by vaccine hesitancy, the message is clear – vaccines save lives. The current outbreak should serve as a call to action, not just to address immediate concerns but to tackle the root causes of hesitancy and misinformation. In a world where viruses don’t develop resistance to vaccines, the path to overcoming outbreaks is through widespread and informed vaccination. (AI)

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, March 11, 2024

Vaccinations and our rights

Re: Hamilton, Brantford to host booster clinics after measles exposures (March 1)

The return of measles, which can be deadly or leave serious side effect like deafness, reveals that a major portion of the population is unvaccinated, especially children. As with COVID-19, those refusing vaccination on the basis of their democratic right of freedom ignore what democracy is about. Democracy indeed allows for freedom of ideas, speech, choice, movement, but equally, and the “no vaccines” crowd ignore it, is that these rights may not be exercised should they imperil other members of society or their rights.

February 8, 2022

You may think what you wish, but you may not spout hatred, not vocally nor in the media, nor in print, nor in blasting truck horns all night. You may not pull together enough fellow bigots to bring in voting regulations which deny the vote to fellow citizens, as we have witnessed in some U.S. states. You may not endanger the health of your fellow citizens; thus anti-pollution laws. Under freedom of choice, these non-thinkers are rejecting vaccination, a treatment to control an incredibly infectious disease which threatens all democratic rights, and because they continue to move about freely, they endanger the lives of fellow democratic citizens. In practice, I reject autocracy totally, but recognize the sneakily cynical thought that tyrants have one advantage, they can enforce essentials. Unfortunately, they cannot enforce intelligence. Equally unfortunate, there is no vaccine for pig-headed stupidity.

Dr. Helen Hatton, Hamilton

Tuesday April 27, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 27, 2021

Politicians behaving badly in the pandemic

What should be done when politicians act against public interest? There are plenty of recent examples, including those who get a kick out of downplaying and minimizing COVID-19 and the health measures employed to fight it.

July 11, 2019

On Saturday, in Peterborough, People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier was ticketed after his speech to an illegal anti-lockdown rally. Also in attendance was independent MPP Randy Hillier, who got into a heated face-to-face debate with local police Chief Scott Gilbert. Hillier and Bernier were charged with breaching the stay-at-home order.

Conservative MP David Sweet went one better — or worse. He had to apologize after issuing a tweet on Friday falsely claiming there is “no evidence” that lockdowns work, and calling them “the single greatest breach” of civil liberties “since the Internment Camps during WW2.”

April 28, 2020

At first he wouldn’t back down. In a second tweet he said: “To be clear I am referring to Canadian internment camps of innocent immigrants during WW2,” he wrote. “Unjustly, because of their ethnic association had their civil liberties suspended even though they were landed immigrants or Canadians.”

McMaster University assistant dean in the department of biochemistry and biomedical sciences Dr. Matthew Miller nicely expressed the outrage felt by many, saying: “(Second World War) internment camps disproportionately affected a minority racialized community in Canada. And this pandemic, we know, is disproportionately affecting minority racialized communities, equity-seeking groups. And these lockdowns, frankly, protect those groups.”

After a Twitter outrage, Sweet sent a third tweet, claiming he didn’t intend to compare the two issues. Interesting, since his own wording in his own tweets shows that is exactly what he was doing. In any case he eventually apologized “to anyone offended.”

June 23, 2020

In case you don’t know, about 24,000 people, including 12,000 Japanese Canadians, were forced into internment camps during the Second World War. Men in the camps were often separated from their families and forced to do physical labour, according to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Many lost all their property and thousands were later exiled to Japan. 

One expert called Sweet’s claims “disgusting,” and that’s an appropriate description.

Let’s not forget now-ousted Conservative MP Derek Sloan and similarly booted former Ontario Conservative MPP Roman Baber, who also engaged in COVID-19 and lockdown denial, and paid a political price. 

And let’s not forget West Lincoln Mayor David Bylsma, who attended anti-lockdown rallies and has mocked public health advice and direction intended to keep his citizens safe. He has faced a storm of criticism from his regional council colleagues and also an integrity commission complaint. 

January 16, 2021

So here is the question: Where do elected officials elected in large part to act in the interest of public welfare and safety get off doing just the opposite? And who is holding them to account? Sweet has already said he is retiring and will not run again. But why isn’t he now out of Erin O’Toole’s caucus like Derek Sloan is? Baber and Hillier were ousted from Doug Ford’s Conservative caucus, but they continue to sit and spew their pandemic denial rhetoric. And Bylsma is still mayor in West Lincoln in spite of all the best attempts by his colleagues to shut him up.

Some will say yes, because they were all elected and serve at the will of citizens. There’s something to that. But there is also something to this: All have blatantly abandoned their duty to promote public safety. That is a cardinal sin and they should pay for it. (Hamilton Spectator)