By Glen Andrews, Barriere, B.C.
As the vaccine supply ramps up and as protecting high risk groups in health care and long-term care homes nears completion, every jurisdiction in Europe, through the United States and across Canada has a role-out plan for the rest of us. They vary from each other in order of priority,but they all seem to be based upon a couple of ways of calculating risk. And they all seem quite reasonable to me.
However, one thing seems to be common in all of the jurisdictions: it is the whining. From academics, and modelling and medical experts through press pundits and opposition politicians to interest group representatives and general idiots (I hope I am not one of the latter). They all seem to have a complaint about this or that group, and the order they are in .
Allegorically it is like we are all in Vancouver (a place where we are in a pandemic and where we are all at risk) and we need to get to Winnipeg (a place where sufficient of us are vaccinated to create a herd immunity to protect us all). The question is how to get there. We have a number of choices, with some variations even in those. We can go Highway 3 via Crowsnest Pass; we can go Highway 1 via Kicking Horse Pass; we can go Highway 5 via Crowsnest Pass. We might even choose Highway 97 and Pine Pass, or even go via Seattle to an American route.
But any jurisdiction can only take one route. Each jurisdiction has the leaders it has at this time. The role out plan may not be the one that I or many others might have chosen, but it is the one chosen. Generally the ones I have seen seem reasonable, and we need to get on with it. Returning to the allegory: your relative in Belgium might get to see the Space Needle, and your friend in Ontario might get to cross the in-land ferry at Nelson. So what. You might get to see Mount Robson if the clouds part. So get in the back seat, buckle up, enjoy the ride and let the driver drive. On the two childhood trips I took to Winnipeg, if I whined as much as some at present my father would have stuffed me in the trunk with the luggage.
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