Earlier this week, a delivery van pulled up at my neighbour’s house. The driver hopped out of his vehicle. He was fully masked and went to the door, kept his distance, and ensured that the package was delivered into the right hands. He then photographed the street address of his delivery and was walking back to his van when we exchanged greetings.
“Pardon me for asking, but have you received a COVID-19 vaccination yet?”
“I don’t mind,” he said, “but no, not yet.”
“I’ll bet you do dozens of deliveries a day and run the risk of either being infected or infecting others,” I suggested. “Don’t you think you should’ve had a shot by now?”
“Of course, but the company hasn’t made it a priority.”
He went on to blame the federal government. And I suggested he might consider pointing the finger at those who really make decisions about if, how and when he gets the vaccine – his employer and the Provincial Conservative government. He said that he and his co-workers had expressed their fears. But they were simply told to be patient. He looked at his watch, apologized for having to break off our conversation, and as he climbed back into his van, he said, “Thanks for your concern. Have a nice day.”
“Stay safe,” I said, but I feared my concern offered little comfort. The man looked to be in his 40s, probably a principal bread-winner for his household (or family), working 9-to-5 (and likely more because he was on the road all the time). The man was also African Canadian, so I guessed he lived in the city or one of Durham’s more diverse communities, possibly a higher risk location, which experts say the Ministry of Health is missing in its age-based delivery of the vaccines.
Am I making this up? According to members of the science and modelling departments at the University of Toronto’s Dala Lana School of Public Health, Ontarians who live in high-risk neighbourhoods around the GTHA are not getting vaccinated at the same rates as those in lower-risk areas.
The data published in the Toronto Star, last Saturday, say about half those age 80 in locations with the highest infection risk have received the vaccine. But only about one-fifth of those 60 to 64 in high-risk areas have been vaccinated. Overall, the data show only eight per cent of all people in the highest risk neighbourhoods have received a shot. One of the public health modellers called those high-risk places “vaccine deserts.”
My sense is that the delivery man I spoke to the other day is the tip of an iceberg of neglect. All I hear Ministry officials worrying about are patios, restaurants, hair and nail salons. And, so help me, they seem mesmerized by the need to keep malls and big box stores open at any cost.
And certainly those who serve the public over dining tables, in barber and manicure chairs and at malls and box stores deserve compensation for forced closings, sick-day pay, and a higher priority in the vaccine rollout than people such as myself – in my 70s and working from home.
But am I the only one recognizing that the greatest COVID-infection locations – so called “hot spots” – are workplaces where large groups of lower-paid essential service employees are working? On Tuesday, Toronto Public Health reported that food processing plants, offices, warehouses, shipping and distribution centres and construction sites have generated 378 outbreaks as of March 30, 2021.
Further, they reported that those plants are responsible for nearly 70 per cent of all workplace outbreaks, as opposed to 19 per cent of infections at bars, restaurants, retail and grocery stores!
And speaking of large-scale operations, why did it take until mid-third-wave of the pandemic to close Ontario schools? The premier and the education minister insist the schools stay open for the kids’ mental health and their continued learning. Fine. So, why not vaccinate the most vulnerable attending to their learning and mental health – Ontario teachers?
The Ford administration should have determined – a long time ago – vaccine priority by postal code, not birth certificate, from long-term care homes, to workplaces with large staffs attending our daily needs, to the incubator of our most precious commodity – Ontario schools!
I take some heart in the provincial government’s decision to appoint Dr. Homer Tien, the president and CEO of Ornge, to chair Ontario’s COVID-19 distribution task force. I think Dr. Tien is a highly appropriate choice. But I understand that he would stay in his current position while working part-time on the vaccine rollout. With all due respect to the doctor and his credentials, the vaccine rollout is not a part-time problem. Why should it have a part-time administrator?
But then, maybe that’s the mindset of the Ford government: a part-time solution for a full-time pandemic.