Vaccine delays top agenda for resuming Parliament
CTV reports Members of Parliament return to the House of Commons today to again face the ramification of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the threat of a possible election. One of the first orders of business will be for MPs to decide how Parliament will continue to function during the COVID-19 pandemic, including whether to let parliamentarians continue attending remotely and whether to adopt a new voting app for those who do.
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Parliament recessed December 11 and has been "on a break" for six weeks (45 days on Monday). Our Parliament is an essential service. We don’t elect and pay representatives to stay at home and avoid their duties. Millions of their constituents go to work daily, risking virus infections. Our MPs and Senators should do no less.
There are no delays in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. We were advised that Pfizer vaccines would be available late in the first quarter of 2021 last November. In early December, the government announced it had procured 249,000 doses of vaccine by month-end (pending approval of the vaccine by Health Canada) and that regular shipments would follow in January, February and March.
We discover that January shipments have been curtailed, and February shipments are smaller than the government projected. We will receive larger amounts of the vaccine in March – which is late in the first quarter. Someone is not truthful.
The constant barrage of information that our caseloads are climbing is not correct. From November 30 to January 24, our active cases have reduced from 66,037 to 63,668. That is 2,359 fewer people who are infected and wondering if they will survive. During that period, 364,649 recovered, and 6,964 (1.87% of known outcomes) died. Whenever recovery and death numbers are larger than the increase in case totals, the active case total shrinks, signifying that we have bent the curve and can hold on pending vaccinations and immunizations.
The active case counts for January tell their own story:
| Date | Active | Incr/Decr | % |
| Jan-01 | 77,272 | 1,296 | 1.71% |
| Jan-02 | 79,488 | 2,216 | 2.87% |
| Jan-03 | 80,822 | 1,334 | 1.68% |
| Jan-04 | 77,466 | -3,356 | -4.15% |
| Jan-05 | 78,849 | 1,383 | 1.79% |
| Jan-06 | 79,203 | 354 | 0.45% |
| Jan-07 | 80,288 | 1,085 | 1.37% |
| Jan-08 | 81,670 | 1,382 | 1.72% |
| Jan-09 | 83,252 | 1,582 | 1.94% |
| Jan-10 | 84,567 | 1,315 | 1.58% |
| Jan-11 | 82,522 | -2,045 | -2.42% |
| Jan-12 | 80,792 | -1,730 | -2.10% |
| Jan-13 | 79,293 | -1,499 | -1.86% |
| Jan-14 | 77,956 | -1,337 | -1.69% |
| Jan-15 | 76,068 | -1,888 | -2.42% |
| Jan-16 | 76,234 | 166 | 0.22% |
| Jan-17 | 75,281 | -953 | -1.25% |
| Jan-18 | 73,919 | -1,362 | -1.81% |
| Jan-19 | 71,064 | -2,855 | -3.86% |
| Jan-20 | 68,413 | -2,651 | -3.73% |
| Jan-21 | 67,099 | -1,314 | -1.92% |
| Jan-22 | 65,750 | -1,349 | -2.01% |
| Jan-23 | 64,573 | -1,177 | -1.79% |
| Jan-24 | 63,668 | -905 | -1.40% |
Latest comments
It's easy for politicians, they can spend what they want because somebody else will pay for it – the taxpayers.
Well done Merv & Marg
Nanaimo is still a good place, but the powers that be have let it run to ruin. This is sad to see.
i agree it is the volunteers in Nanaimo that make it such a wonderful place to live. I've lived all over B. C. and came back to Nanaimo to raise my kids and join the family business. Never any regret
Thank you Mr. Peckford for voicing concerns that many Canadians share, but remain silent.