Ever since Francois Legault announced his administration’s plan to tax “the unvaccinated” in Quebec, there has been a lot of talk—more so than usual—here in Canada about who, exactly, “the unvaccinated” are.
On January 14, in writing for National Post, Tristin Hopper quoted a public health researcher who said that the unvaccinated fall into one of two broad categories: those who are hesitant because they are unaware of “the science” or because they have “historical”—presumably racial—reasons to be skeptical of health authorities and those who are “anti-vaxxers” and who “deliberately disregard the science.” There were echoes of similar opinions in Tom Blackwell’s January 18 summation of a study that found cognitive differences in the unvaccinated and vaccinated. And, of course, our nation’s prime minister—the Right Horrible Justin Trudeau—insinuated in a September 2021 interview that the unvaccinated are, for the most part, racists and misogynists.
Whichever way you slice it, as far as the Canadian public seems to be concerned, the personage of the unvaccinated is clear—they’re either uninformed or simply stupid—and their punishment ought be in the offing.
Now, I am unvaccinated but, for the life of me, I cannot see myself reflected in any of the so-called “groupings” of unvaccinated people as described in the media or by our public health bureaucrats and elected civil servants. I’m not vaccine hesitant. I’m not, Justin, racist or misogynist. And I’m definitely not an “anti-vaxxer”. I’m simply not vaccinated—I might stress, I’m not vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. I have gleefully taken the regular vaccine schedule against measles, mumps, rubella, Hepatitis A, etc.
I’m educated—I studied economics at Western University and read research papers because I’m naturally curious and I think it’s fun. I’m intelligent—I’ve taken a few IQ tests and, barring a statistical anomaly, I can confidently say that I am, at least, not a moron and anyhow, I have more than a lick of common sense. I’m informed—I listen to more podcasts, read more news and digest more data on a plethora of topics (COVID-19 included) than most people spend time watching Netflix and scrolling through Instagram (though I do my fair share of that as well). I am not a rube following the pseudo-science of internet conspiracy theorists nor am I a simpleton lacking statistical and scientific literacy. And I won’t be dismissed as such.
My decision to not get vaccinated boils down to this: I do not take or undergo medical treatments or procedures that are not absolutely necessary to protect myself and others. The COVID vaccines do not meet my criteria. Needless to say, my full rationale is a great deal more nuanced and multi-faceted than that but would require its own medical ethics dissertation to fully outline and there’s a chase I’d like to cut to. i.e., “the unvaccinated” are not your enemy.
I appreciate Canadians’ frustration with the ongoing pandemic and feel the same urge to blame someone. But I promise you, “the unvaccinated” are nothing more than a convenient scapegoat for a conniving political class practicing the age-old tradition of every would-be Caesar; “divide and conquer”. Nevertheless, when our news media peddles in factual but misleading propaganda such as this CTV News story about the disproportionate percentage of unvaccinated people taking up ICU beds, I can see why Canadians would be upset with those who refuse the jab. As Canadians, our healthcare system forms part of our national identity—for better or worse—so it maybe shouldn’t be surprising that Canadians would feel personally insulted by anyone they perceive to be unnecessarily burdening our precious hospitals.
According to that previously-cited CTV News article, unvaccinated people account for 70% of ICU beds. It’s compelling to say that they should pay for their hospital stay… if they make it out. It’s compelling to say that the other unvaccinated people out there should pay a health surcharge, have their basic human rights violated and maybe even spend a week in jail. But if strain on the healthcare system is what we’re concerned about, then there is an even more descriptive statistic to tell us just who, exactly, is taking up all of our healthcare capacity.
Back in March of 2021, CNBC reported that the American CDC found that 78% of people admitted to the hospital with a severe case of COVID-19 were obese. And I’m willing to bet Bezos-level money that, of the remaining 22%, 99.9% were immunosenescent or had otherwise severely compromised immune systems. In other words, I’m staking generations’ worth of my family’s accumulated earnings on 99.978% of everyone admitted to the ICU specifically for COVID-19 having at least one significant health condition known to exacerbate the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Curiously, our public health administrators, politicians and broad segments of our news media have not been so eager to disseminate that information if they cared to collect it in the first place.
However, even if we take the American CDC’s statistic describing more than three-quarters of severe COVID cases as being in “the obese”, it is more descriptive and more informative than the approximately two-thirds of severe cases being in “the unvaccinated”. Yet I hear no calls to tax “the obese” or trample their basic human rights. To do so would be unthinkably un-Canadian—wouldn’t it?
Still there are others who would say that the unvaccinated are being selfish; that they are not “doing their part” and that they ought to get the jab to protect others. To those, I would simply point out that the vaccines do not—nor were they ever intended to—prevent transmission of the virus. Far less than preventing the spread of the virus, it’s not even clear that the vaccines reduce transmissibility. Need I remind anyone that in provinces and territories throughout Canada, vaccine passport restrictions reduced the spread of the virus with about all of the effectiveness of a sieve holding back a river. In Ontario, for example, it would have to have been vaccinated people who spread most of the Omicron variant and “caused” the latest lockdown as people such as myself—the underclass of unvaccinated—could scarcely venture outside of our cubicle-sized apartments or matchstick semi-detached homes without attracting the attention of a Pfizer-sponsored lynch mob.
I am certain that there are those out there who would still make the claim that the vaccines reduce the risk and rate of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 sufficiently such that, if 100% of people received the jab, then the pandemic would end. To those individuals I have two questions and one request: By how much? Under what conditions? And show me your data. Good luck finding it. Even at the height of the Delta wave—when, presumably, the vaccines were more efficacious—our public health appointees were not forthcoming with compelling data about the vaccines’ ability to reduce transmission.
Hopefully—and even if only because I used a lot of big words in very long sentences—I have managed to change the impression that some Canadians have about the unvaccinated. We’re not all—I dare say, not most—placard-wielding ne’er-do-wells protesting outside of hospitals. Nevertheless, I can’t deny that I’m in a class with a bad name. There are, indeed, conspiracy theorists in the ranks who purport—though probably don’t truly believe—that Bill Gates personally put a microchip into each and every dose of the COVID vaccines. I am willing to accept some of the blame for the bad name my class has gotten because, until now, I hadn’t made any efforts to speak up on its behalf. But if I am willing to accept that blame, we have to at least admit that there has been a concerted effort on the part of our elected and appointed civil servants and members of the media to slander those who choose not to take the vaccines. Otherwise, how has my class become so maligned?
For the most part, the voices speaking up since Legault’s announcement have attempted to, in their own way, defend the unvaccinated. Their collective protest has sounded something like this, “The unvaccinated are morons, yes, but we can’t disregard their Charter Rights and Freedoms because of it and we have to exercise patience with their ignorance.” While I’m certain that we—the unwashed and unvaccinated—are heartened to hear others speaking up in defence of our rights, we certainly wish they weren’t doing so in the most Canadian way imaginable—that is to say, with polite condescension and poorly founded moral superiority.
I am unvaccinated, but I am not your enemy. I am no more responsible for putting someone in intensive care or winding up there myself than would be someone driving 5km/hr over the speed limit through a school zone. At night. On a Saturday. I take necessary and appropriate precautions to reduce my risk of severe illness from COVID—which, as a healthy 30year-old male is already virtually nil. I eat well, I supplement with Vitamin D, zinc, quercetin and other minerals all at my own expense. I exercise—albeit, not lately because our boneheaded politicians keep closing the gyms. In Canada. In January.
I’ve had COVID—it was a fully vaccinated individual who passed the virus on to me. The Transformer variant put me to sleep over the Christmas holidays as well as if I’d actually gotten punched by a real-life Decepticon. Nevertheless, despite a lingering cough which is customary for me following any kind of respiratory infection, I recovered fully within a week. I didn’t infect anyone because I stayed at home as one does when they’re sick. At no point did I burden the healthcare system.
As this pandemic hopefully lurches towards its conclusion, I beseech my fellow Canadians to remember one thing: in this pandemic, we have but one enemy in common, but one person to blame and their name is SARS-CoV-2.
