On the distribution problem, I think there is some merit to starting with a small number of centralized sites. Calgary and Edmonton alone is probably too little, but we did the exact opposite in Ohio and it has been a huge headache. Pharmacies all across the state offer covid vaccines - except that they are almost always out of stock. The way to find a vaccine is to call a pharmacy or check their website, but well over 99% of the time they won't have any. And in most cases, you have to check every individual location - e.g. you don't check CVS's site, you check every individual CVS pharmacy within driving distance. It's common for people who are eligible to spend an hour a day just checking if vaccines are available, and I suspect weariness with checking for vaccines is one of the reasons vaccination among the most elderly has plateued.
Damn straight, Calgary and Edmonton are too little. The way this province "works" is that the Legislature is in Edmonton, but much of the money (oil, gas, ranching) is in Calgary. So the politicians focus on Calgary and Edmonton and consider my city (geographically between them) as that wide spot in the road that's convenient for buying gas on the way to the other city, or convenient hotel space so people in either of the large cities don't have to drive so far for meetings and conventions - especially those designed to attract the attention of the party faithful. Other than that unexpected blip in 2015, you could run a pile of used cat litter under the UCP or Reformacon or any right-wing banner in Red Deer and it would be elected. Therefore, Red Deer is taken for granted, and there's a pervasive idea that services don't need to be available here because "you can just drive to Edmonton or Calgary and get whatever it is".
Whereas the truth is that not only are we no longer a small town, but we also serve the many towns, villages, and even smaller cities in Central Alberta. It's well-known that you have a better chance of surviving a heart attack in Edmonton or Calgary because they have multiple hospitals. We just have the one here. One hospital, one emergency room, and it wasn't unusual 20 years ago to have people on stretchers in the hallways and stashed anywhere they could find room, because there just isn't enough room. Two years ago I got a couple of idiotic survey calls, asking if I'd "recommend" our hospital/emergency room over any others, and the caller was taken aback when I said it was a ridiculous question to ask in a city where the only choice is "take it or leave it, and if you leave it, you'll probably die."
More people here are urban than they were 50 years ago, but the population in this province who don't live in any of the major cities are still quite spread out. There are still people living basically in the middle of nowhere, and good luck to them if they have transportation issues. We don't have passenger trains here; we don't even have the Greyhound anymore. And for people like me... I have no way to leave the city unless it's for medical purposes and I can arrange transportation either through the transit service or the seniors' centre, and both are prohibitively expensive for someone in my situation (and everyone else in this situation; it's only due to my case worker being a compassionate and common sense-type that I was able to have my eye surgery two years ago because those surgeries are not done in Red Deer; I'd be blind now without that).
So what this means for the vaccine is that they will have to take into account that not all at-risk people are elderly and living in LTC or group homes. So far they haven't taken this into account. So far we've been ignored, as in they won't even answer our questions.
I live near a walk-in clinic and pharmacy in the nearest strip mall. It's a short taxi ride or handibus ride away. These places serve much of this part of the city, so hopefully the provincial government and AHS will find a couple of brain cells and realize that we should not be expected to leave the city or go across town to get this done.
Whereas in North Dakota, they focused on a few large sites, so you could check once a day on a single-digit number of providers' sites, and know if it was available. Much less of a waste of time.
West Virginia did one better, deploying to numerous locations, including smaller locales, but having a central sign-up portal for the whole state. Enter your ZIP code and distance you can travel, and you can find out instantly if any locations nearby are offering vaccines.
That is the sort of system we need to reach those who can't drive as well. Especially as vaccines that don't require as low of temperatures become available (AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson), there's no reason you couldn't have individual doses driven to customers on a route who have signed up saying they want the vaccine; it would not be significantly different from what was done for nursing homes or schools, and as long as you knew there was demand, should work. It is a problem that so many services have been car-centric.
That said, I can't make governments be competent, beyond writing to and voting for or against my own. I'm fortunate to live in a state that has a competent governor, albeit hamstrung by a largely incompetent legislature.
About the best I could expect would be a nearby location. Some people are very reluctant to enter apartment buildings, especially larger ones. This isn't the largest in the city, but it's larger than most. I suppose they could do a clinic in the social room, if the company that owns the building agreed, as there are quite a few older adults living here, either seniors or younger seniors/disabled people like me (I'm over 55 so am in the category of "young senior" - which doesn't bother me as it comes with occasional discount perks at a few businesses in town; I'd be an idiot to turn down 20% off my purchase, but some do just because of vanity).
But that's just speculation and common sense. Common sense is in short supply these days.
It'll be interesting to hear what Australia does for roll-out. I think having high-profile figures publicly take the vaccine can be good for encouraging uptake. Whether it makes sense for them to take it super early is debatable, but I can see the logic re: frequent travel in Australia. I like what Ohio's governor did - taking the vaccine publicly, but only once his age group was eligible. That works better for encouraging uptake since he's in his 70s than if he was in his 40s, and wouldn't be eligible for months.
In general I think the vaccine passport idea is sensible, and as The_J mentioned, it has been done for other diseases. Though uppi is right that you can't implement it too early, until availability is greater. But I think a carrot-and-stick approach is going to be necessary to get the level of vaccination needed for herd immunity, and early measures such as Israel opening international travel to Greece, but only for those who are vaccinated, are the start of that type of approach. They're at 45% of the populace having the first dose, which is probably about as early as you can really implement such incentives.
Any politician here who got the vaccine and wasn't eligible either by age or at-risk status would be vilified without mercy. Unless they were someone with a great deal of influence, they should not expect to keep their job after the next election if they were to jump the queue. Some of them are already on very thin ice after revelations that they took out-of-country vacations over Christmas; some were demoted and at least one I can recall was booted from caucus (rather stupid of him to post vacation photos on social media while pretending he was still home).
I don't know what to make of a vaccine passport. It penalizes people who, for medical reasons, can't have the vaccine, and I can understand their concerns. There are businesses in town that refuse to let anyone enter unless they slop hand sanitizer all over themselves, which I can't do, for medical reasons (yes, I know you don't need a passport to enter a store). And of course there are lots of people here invoking the Charter, which guarantees freedom of movement into and out of Canada and everywhere within Canada. That's why some are openly flouting (or attempting to flout) the rules some provinces and territories have put in, limiting entry to residents and essential workers only.
I am sure the state will avoid discrimination - as it always does.
I hope this is meant sarcastically and that you are not naive enough to think that "the state" avoids discrimination.
One also has to wonder if forcing vaccine passports is constitutional (for those countries that have a constitution).
There are plenty of arguments flying around here regarding vaccine passports. Yes, many consider them unconstitutional. Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms has given most Canadians many rights that we weren't always able to count on before, but it's a flawed document in that some parts of it are horribly contradictory when dealing with some situations.
One of the rights we have in Canada is that we're allowed to go anywhere
in Canada that we want - I could go to Nunavut if I wanted to, or any other province... under normal circumstances. Some provinces and territories have put in rules now that only residents and essential workers are allowed in, and there have been Human Rights Commission/Charter cases over out-of-province family members being denied the right to attend funerals for immediate family.
The argument going on in the news tonight on the CBC website is over churches that keep flouting the laws regarding social distancing, masking, occupancy, etc. The pastors who keep blatantly and loudly violating these restrictions - and their supporters - are claiming that their Charter rights are being violated on the basis of freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.
The first is nonsense. The Charter guarantees the right to believe in whatever religion you want, or none, if you happen to be atheist. Nobody has said these people can't believe what they want. The right to assemble can be suspended if it's in the public interest, which it clearly is during a highly-contagious pandemic.
This whole mess could easily be solved with extra services to accommodate everyone (the church is required to only allow 15% of the normal occupancy capacity, properly distanced, and masked), going virtual, or - as is allowed in some places - having a drive-in service (though some jurisdictions have ruled those illegal as well).
But they refuse to do that, and it's causing a lot of ill-will all around.
I have no objection to the prioritizing of the reserves, since most of them have egregiously substandard health services, plumbing, clean water, and healthy food on a good day, never mind during a pandemic.
