The Tale of the Two-Dose Summer

Remember back in March how we were in the thick of this pandemic? Vaccines were just beginning to be introduced as the way out of this mess. The thread in the media was that this roll out was destined to be a disaster. All at the hands of the federal government and Prime Minister Trudeau.

It was a theme driven by politicians:

The official Hansard from Nov 25, 2020, where Michelle Rempel CPC Health Critic states the claim that Canada will not be vaccinated until 2030.

It was common for the media to jump on the bandwagon and spread the message the the vaccine roll out was destined to be a failure:

When your plan is being criticized by @TheTorontoSun @TorontoStar and @globeandmail in editorials on the same day then you know that you have a problem. I’d say PM @JustinTrudeau will be back at the drawing board today. #cdnpoli #vaccines #covid19 pic.twitter.com/x4LDnAbDOs

— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) February 3, 2021

Instead what has happened was the opposite:

https://twitter.com/billius27/status/1406088173625786368?s=21

On my podcast The 905er, we’ve mentioned how in Ontario, we’ve never seemingly have run out of vaccines. Not once have we looked at the shelves and saw them bare. Yet the political leaders and media jumped on that theme and ran with it.

Despite that narrative though, the vaccines still kept coming in. Supply shipments continued to increase in volume and the shelves were overflowing with vaccine. So with this fountain of vaccines coming in, we ought to be orderly and steady to a fully vaccinated country right? Wrong. Instead our roll out has been a Mad Max, Hunger Games, Walking Dead free for all of desperately calling pharmacies for unused vaccines and region hopping to get doses.

In line at Jimmie Simpson for today's vaccination pop-up. I'd say there are 400+ people in line, camping out with chairs. The line is winding around the soccer field.

I hear they have 2000 shots, priority M postal codes go first (?) and all M are non-priority, so after (?). pic.twitter.com/xaV6iSjfom

— Amber Mac (@ambermac) June 17, 2021

This didn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t have. It seems the vaccine failure wasn’t on the federal government but on the provincial one. Poor logistical planning and a failure to adapt has lead to a mess of a roll out. My wife is scheduled to get her second dose today, I am scheduled for the end of this week. This is after a lot of hunting down appointments online. Our collective view right now is, we are getting vaccinated in spite of our provincial government, not because of it.

Our leaders in provincial government and in the media, decided back in March to try and jump on a narrative bandwagon that would hopefully sell papers and drum up drama. All good for business. The reality is that they were wrong. Big time. Credibility for these institutions is shot.

In a global pandemic truth and objectivity is paramount. Instead we got drama and desperation to sell media. This was a disservice done to our country. We deserved better. I doubt that there will be any editorial on the tv or in a paper saying they were flat out wrong. Humility isn’t a virtue in the mainstream media. Oh well, in the meantime remember their failure, and enjoy your two dose summer.

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