Public health shouldn't be a political issue

“I would like to correct erroneous comments I made when referencing a study on COVID vaccines. Vaccines are safe and effective. I have and will continue to advocate for getting vaccines to every Canadian who wants one.”

— Provencher Conservative MP Ted Falk

In what might otherwise have been described as an innocuous interview by an incumbent politician with his local newspaper earlier this month, Ted Falk managed to step into this election’s hot-button controversy by making a false claim about the “dangers” of getting vaccinated after refusing to disclose his own vaccination status.

The Brandon Sun’s sister newspaper, the Steinbach Carillon, published an interview with Falk this past Tuesday in which the newspaper questioned Falk about whether he had taken the time to get vaccinated. The question has relevance because Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole and the party campaign team have decided not to require candidates to be fully vaccinated. O’Toole has also rejected the idea of implementing vaccine mandates, saying that getting a vaccine is a personal choice.

In the interview, Falk refused to declare his status, saying that he did not want to add to what has already become a nationally divisive topic on the campaign trail.

“I see a lot of division being created in our communities, in friendship groups, in businesses, in churches, all on the issue of ‘vaccinate or no vaccinate,’” Falk said. “Leadership is also knowing when you shouldn’t be creating division, and I think I am showing leadership by not making an issue out of individual vaccination statuses.”

But Falk went much further than merely refusing to disclose his vaccination status. He told The Carillon that he encouraged voters to “do their research” on vaccines, and further referenced a Public Health England study that, he said, suggested people were “13 times more likely to die from the delta variant if you were double vaccinated than if you were unvaccinated.”

This is, of course, completely false. As The Carillon reported, fact-checkers from Reuters and the Associated Press last July debunked blog and social media posts that misconstrued information contained in a June technical briefing from Public Health England on the delta variant and vaccine efficacy. The data showed that, in reality, vaccinated people are not at higher risk of dying from the delta variant than unvaccinated people.

On Wednesday, once Falk’s comments got national attention — including coverage by the Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press — the Provencher MP was forced to walk back his comments, and retract the misinformation that had been spread.

But his comment to The Canadian Press, which is quoted at the top of this editorial, seems insincere. While it may well be possible that Mr. Falk is privately telling his family, friends and constituents to get vaccinated, his public profile on Facebook and Twitter tell a different story. I waded through both of his social media platforms starting from January of this year until the present day, and could find no evidence of Mr. Falk actively promoting his constituents to roll up their sleeves.

I also checked the social media for the same time period of Conservative MPs Larry Maguire (Brandon-Souris) and Dan Mazier (Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa), and similarly found little evidence that either candidate supports this country’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts. That doesn’t mean they don’t, but it does mean they’re not being very public about it.

I note, however, that Mr. Maguire was vocal last spring about the Trudeau government’s inability to acquire sufficient vaccine contracts for the Canadian public in a timely manner.

To his credit, Mr. O’Toole did post a message taped by all party leaders prior to a recent leaders debate that urges Canadians to get vaccinated — though like his fellow party members, the rest of his posts seem to lack sufficient effort to show that support.

I also note that Mr. O’Toole has promised, should he be elected, to get Canada’s double vaccination rate up to 90 per cent through some as-yet unexplained means. While that is commendable, it’s important that our government leaders understand and support the science of vaccinations in this country — and do so publicly.

Other party leaders showed ample support for vaccination efforts in their social media timelines, including Jagmeet Singh for the NDP and of course Justin Trudeau for the Liberals. On the other hand, People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier told CBC some weeks ago that he had no intention of getting vaccinated — a statement that largely explains the PPC’s growing popularity among the anti-vaccine and anti-vaccine mandate crowd.

And that the PPC is apparently gaining some momentum according to recent national polls also explains why the Conservatives are reluctant to push vaccines on the population — fear of losing ground on the party’s far-right flank.

I do agree with Mr. Falk that the issue of vaccinations and vaccine mandates for government workers, health workers and teachers has caused a huge social division in our society. Public health has become a political issue on this side of the border, much like it did in the United States, and that is a dangerous game to play with people’s lives.

Here in Manitoba, while imperfect, our Progressive Conservative government has been actively promoting vaccinations, mask and vaccine mandates, and the use of vaccination cards that limit unvaccinated individuals into public spaces and events.

We need Canada’s national Conservatives to follow the lead of their Manitoba brethren and do the right thing by making decisions in the name of the public good, not the politically expedient.

» Matt Goerzen, editor