Door-to-Door Vaccine initiative sparks controversy in America, and has made its way to Canada

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“Our work doesn’t stop there and we are going to continue to press to get 12-18-year olds vaccinated… that’s one of the reasons why we initiated these strike forces to go into communities…” Jen Psaki (White House Press Secretary)

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo, Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell, physician and Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky, and GOP strategist Matt Whitlock have all reacted negatively to the Biden administration idea of going door-to-door to vaccinate Americans.

This idea was proposed after the administration fell short of its Fourth of July goal of having 70% of the adult population vaccinated with at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine. They claim that the plan is to offer information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. Biden suggested that the unique door knocking approach was needed now that they are continuing to wind down the mass vaccination sites that did so well in the spring.

“Now we need to go community by community, neighbourhood by neighbourhood and often times door-to-door – literally knocking on doors – to get help to the remaining people protected from the virus,” President Joe Biden

According to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, other measures would include a renewed emphasis on getting the vaccines to more primary care doctors and increasing access for workers at job sites.

What is interesting is that the same individual, who is now pushing this door-to-door initiative, doubted the vaccine to begin with. Last September Biden expressed reservations about whether a coronavirus vaccine approved by the Trump administration would be safe. He stated that Americans should trust a coronavirus vaccine developed under the Trump administration only if the president could give honest answers to questions about its: safety, effectiveness and equitable distribution, none of which has happened even under his administration.

Another concern; how would they know what areas to target, and who had been vaccinated? Jen Psaki spoke to those concerns when she assured the media that the government would not be keeping tabs on who and who has not been vaccinated. Critics slammed the idea of the government going to people’s homes and asking about their private medical information. Psaki again insisted that this is not what is happening, and that they will be relying on volunteers to do their outreach in their communities.

Thankfully, there are members of the American government who have not only spoken out, but have stated plainly that they refuse to introduce this in their districts. One such person is State Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R-32) who is running for the U.S. Congress in Florida’s 7th congressional district. He has already vowed to look into filing legislation to ban the practice in Florida.

Sabatini knocked Biden’s door-knocking plan as soon as the news was released, “Any Federal government employee that goes door to door pushing vaccination should be treated as a trespasser and ARRESTED. We need to pass legislation to BAN this sick practice immediately. I’m currently looking at legislative options to file this year in the Florida Legislature.”

What I have noticed during this pandemic is a pattern; when America does something, it seems like the world follows, and never too far behind is Canada. I had heard buzz of people going door-to-door already, and we have all seen the pop up clinics that have become a trend in Ontario. I did a little research to see if an initiative like this existed in Canada, and low and behold I found out about something called the airplane model, based off a practice started in Toronto.

This initiative is a new program from Ottawa Health Team’s primary care partners table. The team makes vaccination as accessible as possible to some of the cities most vulnerable, by offering them door-to-door in apartment complexes. Health-care workers load up carts with doses of the vaccine and administer them door-to-door to those who want one.

“We have identified buildings that have extra barriers to access the vaccine and in areas that are seeing rising numbers of COVID,” said Raquel De Queiroz, a registered nurse and co-lead of the program. “Not having access to the internet or a vehicle and not speaking English could be some factors making it more challenging for some to get vaccinated. The best thing is that we are able to engage clients one-on-one and have a health professional right there at their door to explain questions, to give them information, and be ready to answer.”

Once again, we are seeing a precedent set that is meant to coerce, and even intimidate people into getting this inoculation. What else do we have to look forward to in the near future? Who knows, but for some, it doesn’t look very promising.