Faint Praise

 

The Globe editorial board is practically giddy at the prospect that Canada is edging ahead of the United States on Covid-19 vaccinations.

While this is the sort of thing that sends politicians scurrying to take a victory lap, our success is primarily because Canadians aren't as stupid as our southern cousins.

Unlike Canada, the United States is awash in vaccines. Their shortage is in people intelligent and responsible enough to sit down for a jab.

The most vaccine-enthusiastic parts of the U.S. look a lot like Canada. In Vermont, the state with the highest vaccine uptake, 65 per cent of residents have received at least one shot. That’s slightly higher than the level in Yukon, which is Canada’s vaccine leader, thanks to Ottawa having given a large and early allocation to the territories.

But in Mississippi, just 32 per cent of people have received their first shot. That figure has barely budged for weeks, despite lots of shots being available. It’s a similar story across much of the U.S. South and West.

As a result, despite the U.S. having a big lead in vaccine supply, a higher percentage of people have received their first shot in Manitoba than in neighbouring North Dakota. Saskatchewan’s level of first-shot vaccination has passed Montana, and Alberta is on the verge of doing so.

...Canada will hit a vaccine-hesitancy wall eventually, though the signs are that, in most of the country, it will happen later – hopefully far later – than in the U.S.

In other words, Canada's success is a story of its people, not its politicians. If Americans had the same outlook on vaccination, we'd still be eating their dust.


Comments

  1. Northern PoVMay 18, 2021 at 4:48 PM

    Well, you managed to get half way there. Ain't bad, considering your starting point. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. TrailblazerMay 18, 2021 at 5:33 PM

    . If Americans had the same outlook on vaccination, we'd still be eating their dust.

    "If the Americans had the same outlook!!
    You say neither, i say neither, lets call the whole thing off!
    Other than few escapades to exert their authority Americans are insular and self seeking to a point of being a different race regardless of colour.
    American desires and ambitions are quite different of most western societies though they try their best to export such ideology with limited success.
    As Rush Limbaugh once said,
    What is wrong with a McDonald's in every city of the world?

    TB


    ReplyDelete
  3. Bill MalcolmMay 18, 2021 at 10:12 PM

    Before the Globe gets all giddy on first shot euphoria, they need to take a chill pill. I have friends in Oregon who cannot get to Nova Scotia to visit, last year or this. Being of the more enlightened persuasion, they're vaccinated. Both shots of Pfizer in their case, since late March. And in the little town of mist and fog, Astoria, no less. So if the Globe had any sense, it would report on complete US vaccinations and let the Repugs down south live in whatever Trump universe they think they're inhabiting, and infect themselves till the cows come home.

    The UK, where Boris hoarded vaccine and pissed off the EU, is way, way, way ahead of us, and is only getting to the 30 year olds for first jabs now. They have a population of 68 million with 38 million first shots, and 22 million the second. Look at the leading country charts. URUGUAY is there, no sign of Canada.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55274833

    And that isn't completely up-to-date, compared to what you'll see in the papers, after Johnson regurgitates some horsesh!t or other. A second Indian variant of Covid is on the march in the UK, which may spoil Boris's plans to boast at re-openings and what a simply wonderful chap he is. There's been over three times as many shots given in the UK as Canada, and they're at 525K shots per day, which compares reasonably proportionally to our population and 350K a day, on a good day, that is, three days after a load of vaccine arrives from Pfizer and the provinces re-stock up. Look at the 500 million shots the UK has ordered! Makes our 200 million look feeble.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Caillo Lisa June 26, 2021 at 8:55 AM

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