Resources – Redressing the Balance: Seniors, Vulnerability, Radical Change
Dear Friends of CCBI,Another interesting week has passed, as we learned about huge surges in…
CCBI Resources for Covid-19 – February 26, 2021
Dear Friends of CCBI,
VVV – Vaccines, Variants, Voices
Vaccines – the good news: larger shipments of vaccines are scheduled to arrive and people over 80 will be first in line to receive them. It seems that all our elderly in long-term care have had at least their first shot, which is reassuring, to say the least, for them and for their families. There is some evidence that reduction in the number of deaths indicate that the already administered vaccines are working.
The not-so-good news: in many places delivery of the vaccines will be slow, while different provinces have different plans in place for administering them, which adds confusion to delay. One way or the other, we shall have to continue existing precautions well into summer, according to Dr Teresa Tam, Canada’s chief Medical Officer of Public Health.
Variants – these are causing major problems and increased spread already, having been found in both long-term care homes and schools apart from in the general population, adding another layer of complexity to vaccine woes. Our medical officers of health are trying to be optimistic about containing them IF society maintains strict precautions. There are already some warnings that not only are these variants more easily transmissible and continuing to mutate, but current vaccines might not be effective against them. At the minute, the latter is more conjecture than fact but has some basis in reports from New York state.
Voices – despite the relief that deaths from COVID19 are beginning to decline in long-term care, the statistics given in the The Globe, February 26, show that more people in long-term care died in the second wave of the pandemic than in the first, indicating that needed measures were not fully implemented. People remained in shared rooms with shared washroom facilities even after the first wave pointed to these factors as partly responsible for the heavy toll. More voices need to be heard to improve care for the elderly immediately!
Voices – are also needed to speak out about some current global concerns. The Lancet reports: “Many factors will determine the overall outcome of the pandemic. A nationalistic rather than global approach to vaccine delivery is not only morally wrong but will also delay any return to a level of “normality” (including relaxed border controls) because no country can be safe until all countries are safe. SARS-CoV-2 could continue to mutate in ways that both accelerate virus transmission and reduce vaccine effectiveness. Vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, and disinformation could compromise the global COVID-19 response. Naive assumptions about herd immunity, given the appearance of new and challenging SARS-CoV-2 variants, and because of incomplete vaccine coverage and variable degrees of immunological protection could seriously risk repeated outbreaks and recurrences. SARS-CoV-2 can probably never be globally eradicated, because of its presence in many animals (including cats and dogs).”
The European bishops (COMECE, see attached article) have spoken out to the European Union, posing questions that resemble many of our questions in Canada. They ask: “How were deals negotiated between the EU institutions and the pharmaceutical companies? How would vaccines be allocated, especially in the early months of production? Who would receive vaccines first? How can production capacity be increased, with the means of production not always within EU borders? And why were public institutions so seemingly unprepared?” They too are concerned about less developed countries, saying: “From a global perspective, access to vaccination has regrettably been unequal and inequitable so far. We are witnessing deplorable tendencies toward “vaccine competition” and “vaccine nationalism” in the form of export bans and other protectionist measures to lock vaccine supplies away from poorer countries. Already vulnerable countries are made even more isolated and vulnerable, risking the reversal of decades of human development and threatening to stall humanity’s progress toward the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.” Pope Francis , a constant voice for the vulnerable and marginalized, has urged this many times, including in his Urbi et Orbi Christmas message, 2020.
In Canada, troublesome social effects of COVID19 were voiced by Anil Arora, Canada’s chief statistician. In an article in the Globe, he informs us: “Prior to the pandemic, our data showed significant progress was being made toward levelling the uneven economic playing field, which was in part driven by strong labour market conditions that in turn supported inclusive economic growth. We saw a substantial decrease in poverty rates, down from 14.5 per cent in 2015 to 11 per cent in 2018, as well as rapidly rising employment rates among working-age immigrant women, up by 4.2 per cent in 2019, over four years.
But COVID-19 has been a dramatic setback for this momentum. A few months into the pandemic, the unemployment rate had already increased more dramatically for the five largest groups designated as visible minorities – including Black and Southeast Asian Canadians – than for non-visible-minorities. Similarly, businesses owned by visible minorities were more likely to have experienced significant revenue losses, with about one-quarter of them seeing year-over-year revenue drops of 40 per cent or more.” These indications of ongoing racial disparities and recent drops in levels of immigration are serious socio-economical questions that need to be factored into Canada’s post-pandemic planning.
In an address to the UN, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See reiterated “…the Holy Father’s words in his message to the members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, stressed that the pandemic which has forced us to endure months of isolation and loneliness has also brought out the need for human relationships. He added that all of us, strengthened by our traditions and religious beliefs, can testify to the value and importance of cultivating spiritual health, rooted in fraternity and love, as an effective way to heal the world around us.” This reminder that spiritual health is an important part of healing the world encourages us to offer our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving for that purpose and to contribute in any way we can towards easing the COVID19 burden on our neighbours.
Our Lady, Health of the Sick, pray for us!
We pray for women who are victims of violence, that they may be protected by society and have their sufferings considered and heeded.
(Pope Francis’ Prayer Intention for February)
Moira and Bambi
Globe and Mail
Ontario’s top doctor says staffing issues blocked transfers of long-term care residents during COVID-19 outbreaks – The Globe and Mail The independent commission examining the devastating impact of the coronavirus on Ontario’s nursing homes grilled the province’s top public-health doctor over his stewardship of the pandemic
The pandemic has reversed our momentum on closing gaps for marginalized Canadians
The Lancet
Challenges in ensuring global access to COVID-19 vaccines: production, affordability, allocation, and deployment – The Lancet The COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to end until there is global roll-out of vaccines that protect against severe disease and preferably drive herd immunity. Regulators in numerous countries have authorised or approved COVID-19 vaccines for human use, with more expected to be licensed in 2021. Yet having licensed vaccines is not enough to achieve global control of COVID-19: they also need to be …
The Vatican
“Urbi et Orbi” – Christmas 2020 | Francis Dear Brothers and Sisters, Merry Christmas! I would like to bring to everyone the message that the Church proclaims on this feast with the words of the prophet Isaiah: “To us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Is 9:6)A child is born. www.vatican.va
Vatican News
Holy See calls for increased attention to the effects of the pandemic – Vatican News The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič has underlined the important role of sincere dialogue as a tool for creating a positive impact on the world amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. www.vaticannews.va