Alberta NDP calls for cabinet minister to step down over report of Hawaii vacation

EDMONTON — Alberta's Opposition NDP is calling for Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard to step down over reports she took a vacation to Hawaii despite public-health recommendations against unnecessary travel.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

NDP municipal affairs critic Joe Ceci says Allard vacationed while Albertans have been sitting in their homes through the holidays to avoid getting COVID-19.

CBC News is reporting that Allard was in Hawaii this month on a family vacation and returned home on Wednesday.

Allard's press secretary and a spokeswoman for Premier Jason Kenney did not respond to phone calls or emails requesting comment.

The NDP says the United Conservative government should release how many of its caucus members have left the country since the Alberta legislature rose earlier this month.

Ceci notes that Allard is responsible for emergency management and her deputy minister is in charge of the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine in the province.

"She vacationed while Albertans have been sitting in their homes through the holidays, following strict public health orders and separated from family and friends while waiting on the vaccine," Ceci said Thursday in a release.

"This goes beyond just a member of the government caucus or a member of the government cabinet — Minister Allard is in charge of emergency management. She has made an unforgivable error and must resign her position immediately."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 31, 2020

Feds Say International Travel Is A Bad Idea Right Now & There Are So Many Reasons Why

© Hamzeh Shatnawi | Dreamstime, aircanada | Instagram

Now is not the time for vacations abroad! That was the message coming from the federal government this week, as they reminded Canadians that non-essential travel outside Canada is still a bad idea.

On December 29, the Government of Canada shared a new statement that confirmed an international travel advisory remained in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The best way to protect yourself, your family and those most at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 in our communities is to choose to stay in Canada.

Government of Canada

As well as warning travellers that they may struggle to return home if they choose to leave the country, the feds also reminded Canadians that vacation plans “may be severely disrupted.”

“It's important to remember that if you choose to travel abroad your trip may become much longer than you planned,” reads a Government of Canada notice.

The statement also warns that Canadian travellers abroad may have reduced access to quality health care and could be subject to the measures of other countries.

In addition, many countries have travel or border restrictions in place right now, including quarantines. 

The message explains that “these restrictions are changing quickly and may be imposed by countries with little warning.”

In a press conference earlier this month, Canada’s top doctor Dr. Theresa Tam acknowledged that many people have been “dreaming” of vacations.

However, she reiterated that the best way to keep Canadians and their families safe is to avoid any non-essential travel, particularly abroad.

Alberta municipal affairs minister took Hawaii vacation, sources say

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© Paul Taillon/Office of the Premier Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard speaks at a news conference on Dec. 15. CBC News has learned that Allard took a vacation in Hawaii this month.

CBC News has learned that Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard spent time in Hawaii this month on a family vacation, despite direction from both the federal and provincial governments to avoid non-essential travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Allard's press secretary, Justin Marshall, did not respond to repeated requests for clarification on whether she had been out of the country this month.

Marshall would only say that the minister is now home in Grande Prairie, "mostly relaxing but with some work, too."

CBC News has confirmed with sources that the United Conservative Party MLA, who was appointed to the senior cabinet position in August, was in Hawaii this month on a family vacation. Sources indicate she returned home on Wednesday. CBC News has not confirmed the exact dates of the trip or where in Hawaii Allard was staying.

Allard tested positive for COVID-19 in late October, but she has since recovered. 

Consider optics of vacations, pollster warns

Calgary political commentator and pollster Janet Brown said the stakes are very high in the current political climate, following the resignation of Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips after he took a Caribbean vacation while the province was under strict lockdown measures and discouraging non-essential travel.

"People were asked to make some very tough decisions this holiday season," Brown said.

"Most Albertans rose to the challenge and made the tough decisions. So it's very hard for them to watch people, people of privilege, do things that they opted not to do. Do things that were not even in their capacity to do."

Brown described Allard's decision to leave the country as a poor choice. 

© CBC Janet Brown is a Calgary-based pollster and political commentator.

"I think all ministers should have stayed home," she said. "It was the right thing to do from a public health point of view, and it was the right thing to do from a political point of view as well."

Brown said every elected official needs to consider the optics of vacationing during the pandemic.

"The government's website says quite clearly to avoid non-essential travel," she said. "It doesn't really matter what position you hold in the government. These were decisions that are not going to be looked [upon] fondly by constituents, no matter what your position is."

Global Affairs Canada has advised Canadians against non-essential travel out of the country until further notice. The Alberta government's COVID-19 travel restrictions page restates the federal advisory against non-essential travel.

All international travellers must isolate for 14 days upon returning to the province unless they are participating in the international border testing pilot.

Despite the advisories, Canadians can travel to Hawaii without quarantining, so long as they show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

NDP calls for minister to resign

The NDP Opposition issued a news release Thursday night calling for the minister to resign.

"Serious mistakes have been made with our only long-term weapon against the COVID-19 virus and it turns out the minister responsible for the rollout of the program was vacationing in Hawaii," said NDP municipal affairs critic Joe Ceci in the release.

"She vacationed while Albertans have been sitting in their homes through the holidays, following strict public health orders and separated from family and friends while waiting on the vaccine.

"This goes beyond just a member of the government caucus or a member of the government cabinet — Minister Allard is in charge of emergency management. She has made an unforgivable error and must resign her position immediately."
Most Alberta politicians remained in the province

On Wednesday and Thursday, CBC News contacted the press secretaries for the premier and all cabinet ministers, along with the director of communications for the UCP caucus.

Most have confirmed the politicians remained in Alberta during the holiday season. One even provided a video of Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen in his constituency setting up an ice rink.

"The minister has been in his constituency and hauling grain over the holidays," Dreeshen's press secretary, Justin Laurence, wrote in an email.

Sources tell CBC News that prior to the Christmas break, Premier Jason Kenney advised his caucus to remain in Alberta for the holidays.

The premier's press secretary, Christine Myatt, did not respond to repeated requests for comment from CBC News. Myatt also did not acknowledge texts, emails or phone messages left over two days.

Kilauea Eruption Update: Lava Lake Rising Again

(Dec. 31, 2020)

•Dec 31, 2020

 Island Video NewS

The lava lake level has been rising slowly again since December 27th, and recently reached a new peak elevation at 2,300 feet above sea level, with a depth of 603 feet. A synthesized voice was utilized in the narration for this story. Video and photos are from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, NPS.

Australia changes national anthem to acknowledge Aboriginal people

Issued on: 31/12/2020 -

People wave Australian flags as they watch the Anzac Day parade in Sydney on April 25, 2017. AFP - PETER PARKS

Text by:NEWS WIRES

A line in Australia's national anthem officially changed Friday in a move the nation's leader said was aimed at better recognising the country's Indigenous people.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the second line in the national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, would change from "For we are young and free" to "For we are one and free".

"Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, but our country's story is ancient, as are the stories of the many First Nations peoples whose stewardship we rightly acknowledge and respect," Morrison wrote in The Age newspaper on New Year's Eve.

"Changing 'young and free' to 'one and free' takes nothing away, but I believe it adds much."

The move had been previously floated to better recognise Indigenous Australian history, which spans back tens of thousands of years, but the conservative leader had not flagged the change until announcing it late on Thursday night.

Australia is a country still reckoning with its colonial past and inequality facing its First Nations peoples, with Indigenous children twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday, according to official statistics.

Earlier this year, large protests were held in several cities around the country calling for an end to deaths in custody of Indigenous people -- which number more than 400 in the last three decades.

No prosecutions have been brought despite dozens of investigations, inquests and in some cases video evidence of abuse.

(AFP)

Celebrations in Argentina after landmark abortion law passes


Issued on: 31/12/2020 - 

Two women hug and cry after learning of the result of the vote in the Argentine Senate authorising the legalisation of the voluntary termination of pregnancy in Buenos Aires, December 30, 2020. © Agustín Marcarián, REUTERS

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Pro-choice activists celebrated on the streets on Wednesday as Argentina joined a handful of South American nations to legalize abortion, a landmark decision in a country where the Catholic Church has long held sway.

Senate president Cristina Kirchner confirmed the vote after more than twelve hours of debate that began Tuesday, sparking scenes of jubilation in the capital Buenos Aires.

"Safe, legal and free abortion is law ... Now we're a better society that is increasing women's rights and safeguarding public health," President Alberto Fernandez, who sponsored the original bill, wrote on Twitter.

Hundreds of thousands of illegal terminations are carried out every year in Argentina with at least 3,000 women dying after backstreet abortions since the 1980s, said Fernandez, who is Catholic.

Before the vote he said the law was necessary "to legislate for everyone."

"After so many attempts and years of struggle that cost us blood and lives, today we finally made history," protester Sandra Lujan, a 41-year-old psychologist, said after the vote in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday.

"Today we leave a better place for our sons and daughters."

The bill in the country of 44 million succeeded despite strong opposition from Evangelical Christians and traditional Roman Catholics -- with Pope Francis tweeting his tacit disapproval of change ahead of the vote.

Human Rights Watch Americas Director Jose Miguel Vivanco hailed the decision as historic, and hoped it would energize other governments in the region to follow in the footsteps of one of Latin America's largest nations.

"The criminalization of abortion has failed. It's time to end it," he tweeted.

However the far-right leader of neighboring Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, quickly signalled his disapproval.

"I deeply regret the lives of Argentine children, now exposed to being cut from the wombs of their mothers with the consent of the state," tweeted the head of the world's biggest Catholic country, where abortion remains illegal.

The new Argentine legislation will allow voluntary terminations up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and was approved 38 to 29 with one abstention.

The vote overturns a similar one in 2018 which -- although also passed the lower house -- ultimately foundered in the Senate by 38 votes to 31.

Only Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana allow voluntary terminations in South America, which has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

In El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, it is banned, and women can be sentenced to jail even for having a miscarriage.

In Argentina, terminations were previously allowed in only two instances: rape, and danger to the mother's life.

'Gift of life'

The bill passed the Chamber of Deputies on December 11.

Francis, who is Argentine, has not commented directly on the vote but many felt he indirectly addressed the issue in a speech on Wednesday morning.

"Christians, as all believers, bless God for the gift of life. To live is above all to have received," he said in his last speech before the New Year.

"All of us are born because someone wanted us to have life."

More than 60 percent of Argentines call themselves Catholic, according to a 2019 survey by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet).

Another Conicet survey this year found more than half of Argentina's Catholics supported abortion only in limited circumstances -- with around 22 percent supporting it, and roughly 17 percent rejecting it in all cases.

"The interruption of a pregnancy is a tragedy. It abruptly ends another developing life," said Ines Blas, a senator from the ruling coalition.

However, Senator Silvina Garcia Larraburu, from the same coalition, had said she would vote for the bill this time despite being against it in 2018.

'Centuries of regression'

Despite measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of pro-choice and anti-abortion demonstrators had gathered outside parliament ahead of the vote, following the debate on giant screens.

Pro-choice activists have campaigned for years to change the abortion laws that date from 1921, adopting a green scarf as their symbol.

Anti-abortion activists, who recently started wearing light blue scarves, expressed sadness after the vote passed.

The alliance of evangelical churches issued a statement calling it "a sad day."

"Today Argentina regressed centuries in terms of civilization and respect for the supreme right to life," said the alliance.

Social law changes have always been slow in Argentina: divorce was legalized only in 1987, sex education introduced in 2006, gay marriage approved in 2010 and a gender identity law passed in 2012.

(AFP)

Opinion: A victory for Argentinian women

Argentina has passed a law that legalizes abortions. The Senate vote represents a landmark decision in the country's history, says Veronica Marchiaro.



The sometimes colorful pro-abortion protests in Argentina have ended in success

As of today, Argentina is a changed country. Reason has triumphed over religion. Argentina's decision to make abortions legal is based on facts.

This issue, after all, is not about ideology but about public health. This vote was about giving women a legal, safe and free way to terminate pregnancies, if they so choose. This is what the country's feminist movement aimed for when it initiated an unprecedented debate on the matter in Argentinian society.

Its efforts have paid off. On Wednesday morning, the Argentinian Senate adopted a law that legalizes abortion up to 14 weeks after conception.

This day will go down in history. The secular Argentinian state has taken a stand for civil rights and a more just society.


DW's Veronica Marchiaro

The new law puts an end to the dangerous practice of illegal abortions. These are very risky for young girls and women, especially those from poorer neighborhoods. According to Argentina's Health Ministry, between 350,000 and 500,000 unsafe abortions are carried out in the country each year. Over the past 40 years, more than 3,000 women have died after illegally terminating pregnancies.

The ban on and stigmatization of abortions did not lower the number of terminations in the country. And judging by the experience of western European countries like Belgium and the Netherlands, the number of abortions will rise only slightly now that the practice is legal.
A vibrant democracy

This legalization is a victory for Argentinian democracy that transcends political camps. Male and female senators from across the political spectrum voted according to their conscience, many of them ignoring the party line — a first in Argentinian history. This, too, is a victory for Argentinian women.

Politicians made a deliberate effort to support a demand expressed by Argentinian society. Doing so brought lawmakers from opposing camps together. Hopefully, this move will lay the groundwork for further compromises in a country that has all too often found itself divided along firmly entrenched party lines.

Argentinian society has matured. Nevertheless, antidemocratic elements within the anti-abortion camp did become visible. Some Argentinian delegates received threats and suffered attempts to intimate them. Argentina's Catholic Church tried to influence the political decision-making process though clandestine negotiations and public sermons. And Argentinian-born Pope Francis even took to Twitter to criticize the proposed legalization.
Building a more just Argentina

The abortion law is also a victory for Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez, who had personally backed the bill. It comes as a relief to the government amid this crisis-ridden year of the pandemic.

The vote is a victory for Argentina, which today is a more just country. It is also a victory for democracy. Yet the biggest winners of all are Argentina's women, who took to the street to bring about this change. They have made history.

EQUALLY DANGEROUS JOBS
Teachers and lion tamers get same wage under Cuban reform

Issued on: 31/12/2020 - 

In this file photo taken on February 8, 2018 a Cuban worker shows 1 CUP (Cuban peso - top) and 1 CUC (Cuban convertible peso - bottom) in Havana Adalberto ROQUE AFP/File

Havana (AFP)

Cuban school teachers, journalists, lion tamers and doctors-in-training will earn the same salary under reforms spelled out Thursday and taking effect in the new year.

The changes will quintuple the minimum salary to the equivalent of $87 a month and prices in the state-run economy will jump as part of an overhaul in which Cuba's two currencies will be unified, ending a system in place for 26 years.

The new salary framework sets 32 wage levels depending on the job and the maximum is the equivalent of $396 a month, according to a 77-page Labor Ministry document published Thursday in the official government gazette.

It does not specify how much President Miguel Diaz-Canel will earn, nor the head of the Cuban Communist Party, Raul Castro.

Nor does it say how much people in the military or Interior Ministry make.

But among the highest paid are provincial governors, who take home $375 a month, nearly twice that of a computer engineer.

In Cuba's much-vaunted health care system, an intern, or doctor in training, will earn $210 a month. That's the same as a school teacher, a reporter or an animal tamer at a circus.

An Olympic gold medalist in the sports world takes home $232.

About half of Cuba's more than three million civil servants will earn much less than the average salary of about $159 a month, said Cuban economist Pedro Monreal.

The reform package will see the convertible peso, which is pinned to the dollar and was introduced in 1994 to replace the US currency, phased out over the next six months.

It will leave only the regular peso, which is worth 24 times less.

The idea is to make the Cuban economy more efficient and easier to understand for foreign investors.

This comes at a time when the country is reeling from toughened sanctions imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump and from a drop in tourism and remittances due to the coronavirus pandemic.

© 2020 AFP

Germany rings in 2021 with CO2 tax, coal phase-out

Issued on: 31/12/2020 -

German energy giant RWE's coal-fired Niederaussem D power plant will on Friday become the first to close down as part of Germany's phaseout of coal by 2038 INA FASSBENDER AFP/File

Frankfurt am Main (AFP)

Germany is aiming for a green start to 2021 by shutting down a coal-fired power plant and slapping a CO2 price on transport, but critics say the efforts aren't enough to combat climate change.

The measures are the result of hard-fought compromises thrashed out by Chancellor Angela Merkel's right-left coalition government, and are key to Germany's transition away from polluting fossil fuels towards renewable energy.

From January 1, 2021 the government will charge 25 euros ($30) per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions released by the transport and heating sectors.

The pricetag was raised from the government's initially proposed 10 euros per tonne -- a number widely slammed as too low by Germany's Green party, environmentalists and scientists.

The price will increase to 55 euros by 2025, and will be decided at auction from 2026.

Germans will feel the difference at the pump with diesel and petrol set to become more expensive, while heating buildings will also cost more.

The government expects to raise 56.2 billion euros from companies buying the new carbon certificates or "pollution rights" over the next four years.

Also on Friday, the 300-megawatt Niederaussem D unit power plant near Cologne, running on lignite (brown coal), becomes the first to close down as part of Germany's phaseout of coal by 2038.

Energy giant RWE, which has operated the plant since it was built in 1968, said decommissioning the facility -- as required by Germany's 2020 coal exit law -- was "a difficult step" that would lead to some 300 job losses.

Under the same legislation, several power plants fuelled by black or hard coal are going offline from January, taking a combined capacity of 4.7 gigawatts off the market.

- Exceptions -

But the flagship initiatives have drawn criticism.

The 25 euro carbon price will not "make the necessary contribution" to helping Germany meet its commitments under the 2015 Paris climate pact, said Christiane Averbeck, director of the environmental group Climate Alliance Germany.

Germany aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent from 1990 levels by 2030, and derive 65 percent of its electricity from renewables by then.

Averbeck said the carbon tax however allowed for too many exceptions for "entire branches of industry" and was pegged too low to really change behaviours.

The Green Budget Germany (FOeS) think tank said that to avoid companies moving production abroad to dodge the carbon pricing, the government would have done better to incentivise climate-friendly investments instead.

The ADAC motoring association has calculated that petrol and diesel will now cost seven and eight cents more per litre respectively.

To ease the pain, the government will lower the so-called EEG surcharge Germans pay to fund the shift towards green energy. The lost income will be offset by the revenues generated from the C02 pricing.

- Payouts -

Despite a green reputation abroad, Germany remains heavily reliant on dirty coal, partly because of Merkel's decision to abandon nuclear energy after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

In the third quarter of 2020, just over half of the electricity produced in Europe's top economy came from non-renewables, with coal alone accounting for 26 percent.

Climate activists, including the youth-led Fridays for Future movement, have urged the government to speed up Germany's coal exit, saying the current timetable of closing all coal-fired plants by 2038 is not ambitious enough.

To their fury, the government has given special permission for North Rhine-Westphalia's huge open-cast Garzweiler coal mine to keep expanding over the coming years in order to fuel nearby power stations, causing the destruction of several villages in the process.

Environmentalists have also railed against the planned multi-billion-euro payouts set to flow to energy companies in compensation for the plant shutdowns, alongside 40 billion euros in government aid for regions that depend on mining and energy jobs.

© 2020 AFP

Peru farm workers maintain road block after deaths

Issued on: 31/12/2020 -

Three people died as farm workers and police clash in Viru, northern Peru on December 30, 2020 GIAN MAZCO AFP   WHERE DID THAT GUN COME FROM

Lima (AFP)

Hundreds of agricultural workers in Peru maintained a road block in the north of the country on Thursday in protest at the death of three people in clashes with police.

The workers are demanding an increase in wages.

Authorities said three people, including one minor, were killed in clashes with police on Wednesday.

One of the victims died while being transferred to hospital after being held up by the road block.

The clashes left 28 protesters and 15 police injured while 45 agricultural workers were arrested.

Protesters are blocking a part of the Panamericana road some 500 kilometers to the north of the capital Lima, where they had already been on strike since earlier in the month.

Television images showed police using tear gas and birdshot against demonstrators.

The workers are angry about a bill passed by Congress on Tuesday.

They had been demanding that agricultural-export companies increase their daily wage from $11 to $18 but the bill only proposed an increase to 48 soles, around $13.

In a bid to calm tensions, President Francisco Sagasti vowed to "sanction the police that didn't respect the ban on using firearms" on protesters.

Sagasti also proposed a dialogue to find a solution to the problem after acknowledging that the bill passed by Congress "didn't satisfy any of the parties."

Farm workers successfully forced the repeal of an agrarian law dating back to 2000 that they considered prejudicial through a campaign of road blocks earlier in December, when two young men were killed as police tried to clear demonstrators.

© 2020 AFP

Honduras investigates murder of two Indigenous environmental activists

At least 14 environmental activists were killed in Honduras last year. Police are now investigating two murders in one weekend.


Honduras is one of the deadliest countries for environmental activists

Honduran police are investigating two murders of activist Indigenous leaders, they announced on Wednesday.

On Saturday, masked men shot dead Felix Vasquez in front of his family at his home in Santiago de Puringla, in western Honduras. The 70-year-old environmental activist was a member of the Lenca Indigenous group who had campaigned against hydroelectric projects and land abuses.

And on Sunday, a group of men shot dead Jose Adan Medina after he returned from work in the town of Candelaria, according to Noe Rodriguez, the president of a local Indigenous federation.

Medina was a member of the Tolupan Indigenous community and a prominent figure in disputes with loggers and landowners in the mountainous areas of Francisco Morazan and Yoro.

He had reported having threats made against him. He was shot five times, local police told Reuters news agency.

The National Police said they were probing both murders, but told outlets they would not release more information to avoid interfering with investigations.

The Honduran prosecutor's office said its department on ethnic groups and cultural patrimony was investigating Vasquez's murder. It said searches had been made, but no one had been arrested.


HONDURAS: LAND OF GANGS AND VIOLENCE
One of most violent countries in the world
Honduras has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. In 2011-2012, there were 86 homicides per 100,000 people. That amounted to 7,172 murders a year in a country of some 9 million people. In 2018, the homicide rate fell to 40 per 100,000 people, according to government statistics. In comparison, in 2015 there were some 5,000 homicides in the EU, where the population is 500 million.
PHOTOS 1234567

'Union of terrible interests'

"(Medina) was murdered for fighting in the defense of the land of the Candelaria tribe where landowners and loggers have occupied our lands. He was shot dead by at least four men when he came back from working his land, growing corn and beans," Rodriguez told Reuters.

Rafael Alegria, from farmers organization Via Campesina in Honduras, said Vasquez had been reporting threats since 2017, but that the government never acted.

"There is a union of terrible interests in western Honduras,'' Alegria said. "There is constant persecution of farmers and indigenous communities. They murdered Bertha Caceres in Intibuca and now Felix Vasquez, and others have been threatened."

Caceres was a Lenca environmental activist and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize who was murdered in her home in March 2016.

Alice H. Shackelford, a United Nations resident coordinator in Honduras, called for justice in a post on Twitter.

"Another human rights defender murdered ... Justice and zero impunity! Quick investigation and identification of the culprits as soon as possible," she wrote.


Honduras is one of the deadliest countries for environmental activists. According to advocacy group Global Witness, 14 land and environmental defenders were killed there last year, compared to four in 2018.

aw/nm (AP, Reuters)

Anti-vaccine sentiment rife in Poland

Many people in Poland are skeptical of coronavirus vaccinations.        A growing number of celebrities and politicians are expressing reservations, too.



When the well-known Polish journalist Hanna Lis recently tweeted about how she suffered an anaphylaxic shock — i.e. severe allergic reaction — social media blew up. While Lis described the experienced as the "worst trauma" of her life, she did not specify what exactly caused the shock. Nevertheless, her tweet sparked a heated debate over the potential side effects of the newly developed coronavirus vaccines. Critics were quick to reference reports from Great Britain and the US about how coronavirus jabs had caused anaphylactic shocks.

While Lis does not oppose vaccinations, she does want to see more light shed on the subject. It is telling, meanwhile, that her tweet struck a chord with so many Poles. Most people feel uneasy about the immunization program and wish more information were available about the scheme. Traditionally, many Poles are skeptical of vaccinations.

The country’s conservative PiS government, meanwhile, has done little to dispel this skepticism. Instead, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has reported on the arrival of vaccines doses in near daily press conferences and urged Poles to get inoculated. He has enthusiastically promised that Poland will soon "return to normal."

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during a press conference

Yet this optimism is not well received. Hanna Lis took to Twitter to say that "this propaganda, claiming vaccinations are a success, is counterproductive."

Superstition and magic spells

Tomasz Sobierajski, a sociologist and public health expert at Warsaw University, says the government is spreading "exaggerated success propaganda." While he does not identify as an anti-vaxxer, he refuses to treat inoculation skeptics as "crazy." Sobierajski says the government carries responsibly for widespread mistrust against vaccinations as it has failed to properly educate the public. Speaking to Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Sobierajski said "unlike in western countries, our opinions on vaccinations are based on superstition and magic spells."

He criticizes that barely anyone is explaining to ordinary Poles that the coronavirus vaccine does not manipulate human genes, as many falsely believe. The sociologist is not surprised that surveys show only 4 to 5% of Poles want to get inoculated. He says that whereas many western Europeans opt to get flu jabs, on average only 4% of Poles do so. That is why Sobierajski warns Poland will "effectively endure the despair of this pandemic for a long time to come."

Mistrust and conspiracy theories

Not only celebrities but also government figures are joining the ranks of coronavirus vaccination skeptics. "I will not get inoculated," Poland’s deputy minister of state assets, Janusz Kowalski, recently told online platform Wirtualna Polska. "This is matter of liberty and personal choice."

STOP NOP, one of Poland’s anti-vaccination groups, similarly argues that vaccinations are a question of personal choice. Problematically, however, the group also questions whether the coronavirus even exists.

Poland's left-right divide

Only a small fraction of Poles believes in conspiracy theories like these. But overall skepticism towards vaccines remains common, as polls show. A recent survey commissioned by daily Rzeczpospolita and conducted by Warsaw’s Institute for Social Research and Market (IBRIS) found that 47% of respondents want to get vaccinated, while 44% refuse to get a jab, with 9% undecided. Respondents above the age 70 were most in favor of vaccinations (67%), while those between 18 and 29, and those between 30 and 39 were most skeptical (29% and 28%, respectively). Overall, men were found to be more in favor of vaccinations than women (59% and 35%, respectively).

In Poland, 47% of the population wants to get vaccinated, 44% are against it

The survey also showed that 82% of those backing Poland’s Left party and 65% backing the liberal Civic Platform support inoculations. Among those who support the governing PiS party, 56% share this view. Only 5% of those who support Poland’s far-right Confederation Liberty and Independence party, meanwhile, approve of coronavirus vaccinations.

IBRIS head Marcin Duma says it is difficult changing anti-vaxxers’ minds. They are right, after all, in pointing out that the vaccines were developed and approved in record speed. "There is no explanation how this was possible in such a short time," says Duma. He says many skeptics prefer to "wait until others have been vaccinated." This, too, Duma says, is a legitimate point to make.

Strict lockdown

Similar to many European countries, Poland launched its immunization program on December 27. In an initial stage, doctors and other medical staff will get the jab. As there are skeptics among this cohort as well, the government is running ads to encourage medical staff to sign up. So far, 400,000 health care workers have registered.

Poland entered a strict lockdown from December 28 to Jan 17, 2021.

Since the outbreak, about 1.3 million Polish people have contracted the Sars-CoV-2 virus. Over 27,000 have died from health issues related to COVID-19. More than 7,900 new infections were registered on December 29 — a marked drop compared to November, when the 30,000 case threshold was exceed numerous times. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, however, expects the numbers to rise again as families get together and socialize during the holidays.

Authorities imposed a strict lockdown in Poland on December 28 which will last until January 17. All shops, save for supermarkets and drug stores, must remain shut. Most sports facilities, including ski lifts, are also shut. The government is encouraging Poles to remain indoors from 7 pm on New Year's Eve until the next morning at 6 am.

KILLER KLAUS BROUGHT PRESENTS

Coronavirus kills 26 in Belgian care home after Santa Claus visit

At least 26 residents of a Belgian care home have died of COVID-19 and dozens more are infected after a volunteer dressed as Father Christmas distributed presents.

The Sinterklaas tradition is popular in the 

Netherlands and Flemish-speaking Belgium

At least 26 residents of a Belgian retirement home have died since a visit by a volunteer dressed as Santa Claus. The volunteer has since tested positive for COVID-19, Belgian media reported on Thursday.

A Flemish health official told AFP news agency that is not certain if it was the visitor who brought the virus to the home in Hemelrijck on December 5.

But the visit by the infected Father Christmas was followed by 26 deaths and 85 residents testing positive, along with 40 staff.

The outbreak was detected a few days after the visit and virologists say those who were infected came from the same source.

Santa did not know he was infected

The white-bearded, red-robed figure of Sinterklaas, the equivalent to the English-speaking world's Santa Claus, traditionally brings gifts to Belgians on December 6.

But this year's festivities were muted. Belgium is one of the countries in Europe that has been affected worst by the coronavirus pandemic.

Retirement homes were vectors of the virus and more than half of the deceased, comprising 11,066 people, were retirement home residents.

A regional health spokesman said there is no suggestion that the volunteer knew he was infected with COVID-19 when he came to the home.