“Trust your Doctors,” I was told; my question is which ones?

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

If you visit Ontario.ca (https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-vaccines-ontario), our government has stated very strongly that vaccines are safe, effective and the best way to protect you and those around you from serious illnesses like COVID-19. It states that vaccines work with your immune system so your body will be ready to fight the virus if you are exposed, it can reduce your risk of developing COVID-19 and make your symptoms milder if you do get it.

They reassure us that our supply will not arrive all at once, so distribution will happen in stages. Their goal is for everyone in Ontario to be able to get a COVID-19 vaccination if they want one, as soon as enough doses are available from manufacturers.

Now, right off the hop, I have some questions. I visited the CDC website (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html)), and I was curious as to how the government can speak assuredly about a vaccine that scientists themselves are still questioning. According to CDC, “Scientists are still learning how well vaccines prevent you from spreading the virus. We’re also still learning how long COVID-19 vaccines protect people.”

Well that is honest and appreciated.

This leads me to a cultural media roundtable that I was invited to attend hosted by Minister Stephen Lecce, on Thursday March 18^th, 2020. It was a call to discuss COVID-19 Vaccinations in Ontario. The Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health, Robin Martin and MPP Deepak Anand joined the roundtable.

Overall, the roundtable was very informative. Media outlets were asked to send questions in ahead of time, and then if they had time, they would answer more questions.

“Great,” I thought. I did have questions for the Ministers, and it had to do with how this affects our Caribbean community.

“Great rising Minister Lecce,” I began, “As a voice and advocate for the Caribbean community, I have some concerns about this vaccine. There have been reports of deaths and other adverse effects in healthy people after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. What questions do you suggest members of our community ask their doctor about this vaccine so that they are sure that it is the best option for them?”

Minister Lecce gracefully forwarded this question to MPP Robin Martin.

“It is a matter of social trust; trust in medical professionals,” MPP Martin replied. “Our medical professionals have assured everyone that the vaccines in Canada are all safe. We have a vaccine rollout plan that is ensured to:

• Prevent death
• Reduce hospitalization and ICU unit
• Prevent transmission

When people are speaking with their doctors, they should talk about the objectives and whether it is likely they will get a bad case of COVID-19. You need to believe in what the doctors say. The doctors are universally saying that the vaccine is safe. We are putting trust in the leaders to advocate for the vaccine.”

“Ummmm, Thank you!” I sat there a little puzzled. I didn’t really get any concrete questions to provide to the community to ask their doctors.

Naturally, I put up another thought,

“It is okay to say trust the doctors, but our community has suffered at the hands of medical professionals in the past. If possible, I would like questions that my community can ask their doctors specifically about adverse effects and allergic reactions that they should be aware of.”

My question sat in the chat for a little while, but then Shannon Whitteker (Cultural Media Lead, PC Caucus) did respond to me.

“Hi Simone, I will get you a more concrete response for this!”

Not too long after, I received a message from MPP Martin.

“Ask if their own medical history says that they would have any adverse reactions? All vaccines in Canada are approved by Health Canada and reviewed by the country’s top scientists and doctors. We have some of the best and most conservative experts in the world in Canada. Family doctors can be helpful and trusted sources.”

“I appreciate your response MPP Martin,” I responded. “The only way that I can safely pass this information on is to give them tools to use. Trust the Doctor is not enough, unfortunately.”

 MPP Martin responded, “Fair enough – are there community leaders that they trust?”

I sat there bewildered for a moment. I had not received any answers that made me feel safe to say to my community, “Yes! Go and take the vaccine. It is safe for you.”

There are so many things to consider when it comes to this issue like:

• Why the significant departure from traditional practices?
• Why have we seen more changes over the last five years, then in the last 50 years?
• Have we accounted for the physiological cultural differences?

A few minutes after Shannon did send me a message asking if I wanted to set up a time to speak with MPP Martin, but by then, I had already had enough. I felt that another dialogue would be redundant. It would be the same information repeated to me, information that I could find on the Internet. The statement that really stuck with me was when MPP Martin told me that we should trust our doctors. My question is which ones?

I am privy to both sides of this vaccine debate, and last year I had a chance to speak with Ontario’s Former Chief Medical Officer Dr Richard Schabas, as well as Dr Joel Kettner, Manitoba’s first Chief Provincial Public Health Officer. These are two well-established doctors who in 2020 issued statements about the pandemic and they had been ignored.

In October 2020, I had a chance to sit down with Ontario’s Former Chief Medical Officer Dr Richard Schabas to discuss his views and opinions on Ontario’s current response to the Covid Pandemic. In his words, “Quarantine belongs back in the Middle Ages. Save your masks for robbing banks. Stay calm and carry on. Let’s not make our attempted cures worse than the disease.” You can watch that full interview at https://torontocaribbean.com/ontarios-former-chief-medical-officer-dr-schabas-full-interview/.

I have always found it strange that the new Ministers of Health would not consult with the Ministers who have come before them. Our ancestral past tells us that during times of current struggle, we should turn to our elders; those who have come before us, who may know a little more than we do.

Carrying on, in November last year, I also had the opportunity to speak with

Dr Joel Kettner, Manitoba’s first Chief Provincial Public Health Officer. I was interested in speaking with him after his interview on CBC radio. In his interview, he made some statements that caught my attention.

“I have never seen anything like this, anything anywhere near like this. I’m not talking about the pandemic, because I’ve seen thirty of them, one every year. It is called influenza. And other respiratory illness viruses, we don’t always know what they are. But I’ve never seen this reaction, and I’m trying to understand why.”

Dr Kettner thought that instead of focusing on reducing the spread of the virus, there should be risk-based analysis that will help health care professionals focus on those who are part of the high risk/vulnerable part of our society. Dr Kettner has dealt with a pandemic each year for over the last thirty years. I think he might know a thing or two about how to navigate them.

As a journalist, it is important that my community is provided with all information pertinent to their health so that they can make balanced decisions. So, again I ask MPP Martin, which doctor do we listen to? Are we to listen to the doctors who are going along with the current administration’s guidelines, or the doctors who have been here before, and see that there is something terribly wrong with how this pandemic is being handled?