February 2021
Congratulations to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on signing all the contracts he’s signed for vaccines to be delivered at some future date. You are a true hero to many Canadians and you deserve the Order of Canada for such an incredible accomplishment that few of us mere mortals could achieve.
There are some problems though, and when I say problems, I mean besides the fact that signing contracts for vaccines and actually having needles going into arms are entirely separate things.
No, the problem I’m highlighting is what sort of consequences are there for the vaccine manufacturers if they fail to live up to the terms of the contract by failing to deliver the contracted doses in the contracted time-frame?
Normally, when a vendor fails to abide by a contract, the customer has the option of enforcing a financial penalty clause, withholding further payments until the problem is rectified, or outright cancelling the contract and going to a competitor. Thus, the original vendor loses a sale.
In this case, none the above measures will get us vaccines any faster. Seeing as all vaccine manufacturers are straining to keep up with the global demand, we are stuck in the position of having to take what we can get, from whomever we can get it from, whenever it arrives. If we cancel one contract, that vendor won’t lose a sale because someone else will buy their vaccine whenever it becomes available.
On the positive side, the Chinese have introduced a rapid test that involves using an anal swab. So, bend over everyone. As Canadians, we’re all well practiced at it.
“An ounce of prevention, is better than a pound of cure.”
Seeing as our governments, especially our federal government, didn’t learn the lessons from SARS (2003), H1N1 (2009) and even MERS (2012), here are some ideas for battling the next pandemic:
Make sure our national stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) isn’t depleted, or expired.
Maintain our own capacity to manufacture PPE.
Maintain our own capacity to manufacture vaccines.
Listen and pay attention to Taiwan when they are warning us that there is likely a virus coming out of China.
Spend less time taking advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) and don’t listen to anything that China has to say.
Actually close our borders, and close them at the first indications that there is a virus coming out of China. It’s not racist; it’s smart, especially when it’s Chinese-Canadians telling us they have heard from their relatives in China that something is wrong in China. The only exceptions to the border closure should be trucks and transport aircraft bringing in essential supplies.
Manufacture and maintain our own supply of rapid testing kits.
Maintain 100% testing of those who do need to cross the border on essential business and enforce 100% quarantine until the results from the rapid tests comes back negative.
Don’t do anything in partnership with China. Anything.
Sources: Anal swabs to become China’s No. 2 method for COVID-19 testing – National | Globalnews.ca,
