Little by little, the expansion of the vaccine passport is gaining ground. The Legault government announced Thursday that it will be extended to businesses over 1,500 square meters from January 24 (excluding essential businesses such as pharmacies and food markets).
Despite the virulent opposition of the Retail Council of Canada, this measure is welcome to accentuate the incentives for vaccination among those who are still recalcitrant. Failing to receive their doses, the unvaccinated will suffer further deprivation of movement which will contribute to limiting their social contacts. The measure is proportional to the objective pursued, namely the alleviation of the pressure that the non-vaccinated are subject to the health network, already of an aberrant fragility. All things considered, the non-vaccinated weigh heavily in the current wave of hospitalizations, let’s not forget that.
One wonders why the government hasn’t acted sooner on the commercial front, when the Omicron variant is pushing hospitals to the point of saturation and a load shedding that will end up costing lives. Cancers and other deadly diseases will not wait for the return to normal to continue their insidious progression. In this context, tightening the scope of non-essential activities for non-vaccinated people is a much less intrusive and polarizing measure than is the “health contribution”. Its impact on the reduction of contacts of the unvaccinated will be felt much more quickly than the projected taxation of these.
Why stop now while everything is going so well ? Since the start of the pandemic, the Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, has been cautious in asking employers to show benevolence and compassion in the management of work delivery, a message that has been generally heard. The Minister did not want to get wet on the implementation of the vaccine passport in companies. Employers may require it, but employees are not obligated to comply with the request. The refusal does not constitute a valid reason for dismissal. We bet that many employees concerned about their health and safety would support the corporate vaccine passport, without the extreme measure of dismissal.
The government does not hold the key to the solution. It will need the collaboration of the major trade unions to facilitate the implementation of the vaccine passport in companies and the public service. The prerequisite is to open a fruitful dialogue with the unions on the issue. At the point where we are in the fight against COVID-19, it would be much preferable to the laissez-faire approach with which the workplaces are coping as best they can.
On a complementary subject, Prime Minister Legault also announced the lifting of the curfew, bragging about the effectiveness that the measure would have had in limiting the spread of the virus during the holiday season. The cheerful claim was not supported by any evidence.
It is to be hoped that this draconian measure, with uncertain effects, will no longer disturb the lives of Quebecers in the months and years to come, thanks to a sixth or a seventh wave. Last year, Quebecers were good players and agreed to live under curfew. The virulence of COVID-19 and the low vaccination coverage served as moral support for the government. The curfew did not so much limit social contact as it gave police an easy and convenient pretext to intervene with late-night revelers who violated rules prohibiting gatherings.
Before playing a second time in this bad movie, we would have been entitled to obtain clarification on the usefulness and effectiveness of the curfew. A year later, Public Health, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) and the institutes around them had not been able to produce impact studies. The MSSS instead relied on four questionable external studies to justify the brief return of the measure. Last year in Quebec, the curfew reduced nighttime mobility by 31%. In France, it was one of the useful means to curb the second wave. But the causal link between the curfew and the decline in infections is unclear. In all cases, it is a relation of correlation and not causation.
The Montreal Economic Institute and academics from several fields of research have also raised this formal flaw, questioning the effectiveness of the curfew and the credibility of the studies cited by the MSSS.
“Common sense”, of which Prime Minister Legault is fond, commands that this measure no longer be used. It participated in the erosion of civil liberties for an inconsistent objective, namely to comfort the government in its impression of acting.