The federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, in turn calls for “benevolence”, respect and calm, a few hours before a major demonstration by truckers from across Canada, against the imposition of compulsory vaccination.
Posted at 11:07 a.m.
Updated at 11:31 a.m.
“We are all in the same convoy, we are in a convoy to get out of COVID-19 as quickly as possible. And it’s when we are united in this convoy that we can get there,” the Minister pointed out, thus referring to the name of the group of truckers, the ““freedom convoy”.
If he says “understand that there is frustration around” the pandemic, Minister Duclos has hammered several times that “vaccination remains the only way” to return to a normal life. “We talk a lot about anti-vaccination. But the threat is not vaccination, it’s COVID-19″, he insisted again, repeating that this vaccination is not intended “to punish people, but to protect “.
Leaving from British Columbia, the convoy aims to denounce the Trudeau government’s decision to impose compulsory vaccination on truckers crossing the Canada-US border. This measure came into effect about two weeks ago. On Thursday, the Conservative leader, Erin O’Toole, said he was worried about the turn that could take this demonstration to which extremist groups preaching violence have given their support in recent days. Mr. O’Toole also intends to meet truckers who take part in the “freedom convoy” in order to hear their grievances.
The key word here, and it has been repeated several times, is benevolence. We have the right in Canada to express our points of view, but we must always do so from a perspective of respect and peace. We must respect the rights of the people around us, including their right to live in safety.
Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health
Beside her is the Chief Administrator of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Dr.D Theresa Tam, acknowledged that her organization does not collect data on the rate of transmission among truckers or transportation industry employees, but that it is done through the general population. “There are no border measures that are completely effective”, she also admitted in English, adding however that the government “has increased these vaccination requirements, because we know how much the vaccination works”.
Minister Duclos remained evasive twice when questioned about the nature of the data on which he based himself to impose compulsory vaccination on truckers. “Compulsory vaccination is one of the measures that we will continue to promote, to ensure that we get through this crisis in a unified and united convoy”, he simply offered on this subject.
More than 100 BA.2 cases
“Over 100” cases of the new Omicron variant BA.2 strain have so far been identified in Canada, 77 of which are from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
We are still learning about this subvariant, but international data suggests it could potentially have an increase in spread, but there does not appear to be a specific increase in hospitalizations or severe complications, compared to BA. 1.
The DD Theresa Tam
The acceleration of the BA.2 is a “possibility”, chained the DD Tam, recalling that Denmark has seen a sharp increase in the number of cases linked to this subvariant. “Coming to the peak of the wave is one thing, but coming down the other side also means that a lot of people are going to be infected. »
His deputy, the Dr Howard Njoo, confirmed that as of January 26, the seven-day average of new cases in Canada was around 19,000, noting however that this is probably an “underestimate”. However, the positivity rate remains lower than before, at 19%, “which reassures us that individual efforts have helped to slow transmission,” he said. Currently, more than 10,800 patients remain hospitalized with COVID-19 across Canada, including more than 1,200 in intensive care. About 168 deaths are reported daily.
With Joel-Denis Bellavance