(Quebec) The Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) denies being anti-vaccine and the spokesperson for its health committee, Dr.r Karim Elayoubi, encourages Quebecers to get vaccinated.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
“As spokesperson for the committee [santé] of the PCQ, on my behalf I encourage the population to get vaccinated,” said the family doctor in an interview with The Press. He was reacting to the release of Quebec solidaire (QS), which associates Éric Duhaime with the anti-vaccine movement.
The parliamentary leader of QS, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, believes that the “vaccine tax” of the Legault government is fueling polarization “and that only one person benefits from it: Éric Duhaime and his anti-vaccine movement”.
On social networks, Mr. Duhaime replied that these were “intellectual shortcuts” and “shameless lies”. He does not himself encourage the population to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but recommends that people speak to their doctor about it.
Mr. Duhaime also announced last week that actress Anne Casabonne would wear the colors of the PCQ in the riding of Marie-Victorin during the upcoming by-election. Mme Casabonne had made headlines by writing a text where she described the vaccine against COVID-19 as “big shit” and “filth”. Without revealing whether she was vaccinated or not, she however denied that she was anti-vaccination and claimed that this text was in fact a satire.
The Dr Elayoubi, co-owner of a health clinic in Lachute, is comfortable with these explanations.
[M. Duhaime] says so publicly, he is doubly vaccinated. He is definitely not an antivaccine. He suggests that people go see their doctor to discuss it, that seems to me to be a reasonable statement.
The Dr Karim Elayoubi, spokesperson for the PCQ health committee
He also trusts M.me Casabonne. “She demonstrated that it is not an antivaccine at all. From that point on, you can’t say it’s an antivaccine. […] She’s had plenty of vaccines in her life. She says it’s satire, I give her the benefit of the doubt,” he explained.
Private in health
The 38-year-old doctor has been with the PCQ for nearly a year. He joined the health committee a few months ago to participate in the development of the party’s electoral platform. The doctor has a “heavy practice”, which will prevent him from being a PCQ candidate in the general elections next October. In addition to the GMF, he also works at the Lachute hospital in the emergency room and in hospitalization. He has also treated many patients with COVID-19.
He has an “atypical” career: after starting a residency in neurosurgery, he branched off into family medicine, which he likes more.
What attracts him to the PCQ? He wants to see a reform of the health network that includes the private sector. He chose this political formation for this reason.
People tend to say “private” and “health” to think it’s like saying “Lord Voldemort” in Harry Potter.
The Dr Karim Elayoubi, spokesperson for the PCQ health committee
Instead, he would like a mixed system with private hospitals that could take patients from the public sector when waiting lists are overflowing. There is no question, he says, of “copying the American model”.
As for health measures, he is comfortable with the positions taken by Éric Duhaime. Last week, Mr. Duhaime indicated that he was advised by a “scientific committee” made up of “five, six doctors”, including Dr.r Elayoubi. “Mr. Duhaime said it, we need to lift sanitary measures gradually,” he said.
“Against Coercion”
The PCQ, he adds, is not “against wearing a mask”. “As a democrat, and we know the libertarian line of thought of Mr. Duhaime, he is against coercion, [contre le fait] that the police force to wear the mask […] He is more in favor of encouraging it based on scientific evidence. In his opinion, if it is useful to wear the mask in a situation of high transmission of the virus, he says, it is less relevant to wear it in the middle of summer when the number of cases is very low, for example.
The Dr Elayoubi also responds to health network staff who feel “lonely” and forgotten in the debate on deconfinement. “I respect this idea, but I don’t feel alone. Quebecers have made many sacrifices since the start of the pandemic, [c’est] probably the population that made the most […] in North America. People support us a lot, they are responsible, reasonable,” he said.
When he takes a position on health measures, he says he considers “other aspects of health”. “I am thinking of hospitals, intensive care, but I am also thinking of pediatric patients, mental health, alcoholism, domestic violence in confinement. »