On December 30, Prime Minister François Legault announced a series of measures aimed at curbing the meteoric progression of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. All are subject to these constraints, people vaccinated or people refusing the vaccination offered.
Statistics released by the government tell us that vaccinated people make up 50% of hospital admissions due to COVID-19. Unvaccinated people, about 10% of the population, therefore represent the other 50%. It shows that a vaccinated person is 11 times less likely to be hospitalized if they are infected with COVID-19.
In addition, unvaccinated people stay longer in hospital and occupy beds reserved for COVID-19 longer, whether in intensive care or not.
This situation, which is becoming more and more difficult for many to accept, threatens the social cohesion and the future of a multitude of small Quebec businesses. Everyone understands that hospitals would be less strained and would not risk the interruption of services if the unvaccinated remained confined to their homes.
How can a democratic government deal with this problem adequately? One approach would be to use some tools we already have as a means of positive reinforcement towards vaccination.
I give two examples and there are certainly others:
- that insurers and other companies that offer salary insurance plans increase the premium payable for non-vaccinated people or even exclude them from coverage of this risk until proof of vaccination;
- that the government increase, say by 50%, the contribution of unvaccinated people to the health services fund and the prescription drug insurance plan. This provision would be in effect until the World Health Organization proclaims the end of the pandemic.
For those who have doubts about the legal viability of such measures, I would like to point out that Quebec legislation already contains equivalent provisions. For example, the annual contribution of a motorcyclist to automobile insurance is much higher than that of a motorist because the risks incurred by the Plan in their case are greater. When you renew your driver’s license and have demerit points, you are charged an additional contribution that increases with the number of demerit points in your file.
In conclusion, since the fight against the pandemic is becoming more and more difficult and the refusal of vaccination has major consequences on the social system and on the economy, the government could use the democratic levers which are already available to it in order to ” encourage unvaccinated people to avail themselves of vaccines. This will perhaps avoid having to choose between a 21-year-old young adult with COVID-19 and his 48-year-old mother, infected by it, for admission to the last available hospital bed.