Political allergies and Covid 19

by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC,
FEC, CET, P. Eng.
Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East
After nine months of a gruelling, unrelenting and frequently mismanaged battle with the pandemic, finally a vaccine has arrived in Canada and the world.
The start of vaccinations gave Canadian PM Justin Trudeau an opportunity to champion the environment, focusing on a new start of the economy in terms of the principles and promises of the Liberal Party.
In capitals around the world, political leaders have, with varying degrees of success, pinned their own political fortunes to the arrival and successful rollout of a vaccine. Who can blame them? After almost a year of unrelenting bad news, what politician wouldn't want to own the solution?
The people at Pfizer and Moderna, whom we actually have to thank for the vaccine, have worked hard to try to find a solution to fight the Covid 19 virus.
Here at home, it remains to be seen how our own political leaders will fare in their vaccine politics and whether the glory will be taken away by some unknown allergies.
Thus far, Trudeau and his cabinet are heavily pursuing an unknown, ambitious and somehow unrealistic climate change based new economy that will probably be extremely expensive and might well bring an economic pandemic to the country.  For example, in a recent announcement, it was predicted that the federal carbon tax would soar to $170 a tonne by 2030, adding 28 cents to the average price of a litre of gasoline. This is further evidence that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is joining a global revolution in embracing a wholesale, tax-induced adoption of less mobile, more vegetarian and generally far less consumptive lifestyles in the world's wealthiest countries, with the COVID-19 pandemic serving as a catalyst.
The Conservative Party and opposition leader Erin O'Toole are not far  from the same kind of promises  to Canadians; only the packaging is different. No innovative ideas, no policies in place which could mobilize the Canadian electorate to have a realistic choice and vote for a change. That said, it is a dispute purely over methods, not goals. Conservatives have committed to meeting Canada's 2030 targets under the Paris Accord, just not with a carbon tax.  The Conservative team has been signalling that it plans to get serious about fighting climate change more generally, but non essentially. O'Toole's predecessor, Andrew Scheer, stumped for his "Real Plan to Protect Our Environment" as "Canada's best chance to meet the Paris targets." Even Stephen Harper's 2015 platform boasted "We've committed to ambitious greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030,"  but  no real action was ever taken.
With a potential election looming just around the corner, Trudeau has better hope and his team prepares for the landing, because there is no inoculation that can keep a minority government alive forever.  So he is preparing himself to be best positioned to win a new majority.
Their various post-COVID slogans "build back better," "a more resilient Canada," etc; even the press release announcing the carbon-tax hike begins, "As we continue to address the impacts of COVID-19 and ensure our strong economic recovery…" go out of their way to liken the battle against climate change to the battle against the pandemic.
But now comes the unknown which nobody wants to hear about. With the vaccine in place, the issues of people with allergies being advised to be careful about taking it, might easily translate to a political allergy, as the vaccinations proceed.
Pfizer has admitted that people with a history of severe adverse allergic reactions to vaccines or the candidate's ingredients were excluded from their late stage trials. However, the allergic reactions may have been caused by a component of Pfizer's vaccine called polyethylene glycol, or PEG, which helps stabilize the shot and is not in other types of vaccines.
On Dec. 12, Health Canada issued official guidance for those with serious allergies. Noting that all vaccines in Canada "carry a warning about the risk of serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, and immunization clinics are equipped to manage these rare events," the federal government warned that "people with allergies to any of the ingredients of the [Pfizer COVID-19] vaccine are currently cautioned against receiving it."
So as we approach the winter festivities, we need to be cautious and aware about the coronavirus pandemic and hope that our politicians do not become allergic to their duties. Life must go on……
Wishing you and your loved ones hope and happiness during this traditional season of giving.