What impact will the coronavirus pandemic have on anti-vaxxers?

THE CONVERSATION April 9, 2020 

Not long after the COVID-19 pandemic began, hopes for a vaccine were raised. Even US president, Donald Trump, a former vaccine sceptic, demanded a coronavirus vaccine, saying: “Do me a favor, speed it up, speed it up.”

So where does that leave the “anti-vaxxers” – those who are critical or oppose vaccination. Will they now be quiet in the face of a real-life reminder of a time before vaccines controlled many diseases?

During a pandemic, the position of those who oppose vaccination is often voiced, even if a vaccine is not yet available.

Some celebrities and high-profile personalities have also spoken out about their unwillingness to have a vaccine. The British rapper MIA, for example, attracted controversy for her tweet: “If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I’m gonna choose death. YALA.”.

MIA experienced a significant backlash from many followers who disagreed with her views. Indeed, in general, the heightened stakes of a very present disease threat may lead to a stronger countering by those who are in support of vaccination.

While the anti-vaxx constituency was seen as politically attractive in pre-coronavirus times, today, vocal vaccine critics looking for votes may find it harder. As a Vermont governor candidate has found, his stance against government-mandated vaccination has been questioned by opponents.

British rapper, MIA. Steve C Mitchell/EPA
Anti-vaxxers are a target right now for those looking for enemies in the crisis. While tempting, it is important not to fuel tensions and polarisation. The worries that anti-vaxxers might have of government encroachment into private lives (through surveillance and possible enforcement of vaccines) should be addressed, as should the spread of misinformation and “influencers” offering alternative “natural cures” that are useless or even harmful.

It is difficult to assess, at this stage, what the public’s reaction to a coronavirus vaccine might be. Looking at vaccines that were rolled out in response to other disease outbreaks, you will find different reactions. For example, there was high demand for the polio vaccine in the 1950s because the risk was very present. But there were concerns over a new vaccine being “rushed” or “not tested well” during the 2009 H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic.

A vaccine for COVID-19 will have to go through all the same safety and effectiveness tests as any other vaccine that is introduced. But negative comments in the media about the speed and rigour of vaccine trials is worrying. As are references to trial participants as “guinea pigs”.

Even more worrying is the spread of misinformation and disinformation, which can stem from scepticism about the motivations of those who have developed a new vaccine and may lead to questions about how safe and useful it is. This sort of thing could derail a vaccination campaign, as has happened in the past. For example, in 2017, a rumour that vaccination would make children impotent hampered the Indian government’s vaccination campaign for a new measles and rubella vaccine being rolled out in five states.

To address this risk, health authorities and governments need to quickly react to information that is false or misleading. Social media platforms are already aware of their role against COVID-19 fake news and met with government leaders early on in the crisis.

Where there is very limited control and oversight is with private messaging, such as WhatsApp, email and text messages. Even though WhatsApp recently announced it will limit “frequent forwards”, by restricting the times a message can be forwarded by five, we still need to rely on the public to be aware of what sources to trust and also bring attention to fake news.

With the many concerns about opposition to vaccination, what should not be neglected are the routine immunisation programmes that protect people against vaccine-preventable diseases. While it may be harder to routinely vaccinate people if health resources are directed elsewhere, and there is difficulty or reluctance to go to the doctor or other places where vaccination takes place (such as schools, due to closure), making the best use of the vaccines already available is crucial to avoid other disease outbreaks on top of COVID-19.

Author
Samantha Vanderslott
Postdoctoral Researcher in Social Sciences, University of Oxford
Disclosure statement
Samantha Vanderslott receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the New Venture Fund. She is also a steering committee member for the Vaccination Acceptance Research Network (VARN).
Partners


University of Oxford provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

Coronavirus causing some anti-vaxxers to waver, experts say

While some are doubling down on their rejection of vaccines, the scale of the Covid-19 crisis is eroding resistance in others
Jon Henley and Guardian correspondents Tue 21 Apr 2020

 

A protester wearing anti-vaccination earrings at a demonstration in Indianapolis against the Covid-19 shutdown in the US. Photograph: Jeremy Hogan/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock

The coronavirus pandemic may be prompting some anti-vaxxers to question their views, experts say, but others are doubling down – and vaccine hesitancy, amplified by some celebrities, could seriously undermine a future inoculation programme.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 70 candidate coronavirus vaccines are being developed, with three already in clinical evaluation. The world’s small but vocal anti-vaccination community seems divided on how to respond.

“The extremists, the belief-driven groups who reject vaccination on principle, whose aim is to disrupt and polarise, they’re not changing, in fact they’re capitalising,” said Heidi Larson, director of the London-based Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP).

Some high-profile personalities with big social media followings have also expressed scepticism. Novak Djokovic, the world No 1 tennis player, suggested on Facebook that his opposition to vaccines might prevent his return to the sport, saying he “wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine” to travel.

The outspoken British rapper M.I.A. also drew widespread criticism for tweeting: “If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I’m gonna choose death”, while the Australian actor Isabel Lucas was dropped as ambassador for a girls’ charity after saying she did not “trust the path of vaccination”.

M.I.A(@MIAuniverse)
If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I'm gonna choose death - YALAMarch 25, 2020

However, Larson said there was also evidence that people who were “less sure for some reason, who maybe have issues with just one particular vaccine – the MMR jab for their children, for example – may behave differently in the context of this pandemic”.

The VCP has launched an 18-month study with local partners around the globe, conducting national polls and examining online conversations about the coronavirus to try to measure attitudes towards a future vaccine.

Larson said that after analysing more than 3m social media posts a day between January and March, she was confident the vast majority of people were “eager for a coronavirus vaccine, and as soon as possible”.

World no 1 Novak Djokovic said his opposition to vaccinations could prevent him from returning to tennis. Photograph: Simon M Bruty/Getty Images

There will, however, be resistance. The anti-vaccination movement has been growing globally in recent years, fuelled partly by a long-discredited paper by the disgraced British doctor Andrew Wakefield, who fraudulently claimed a link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism in children.

According to the WHO, which identified “vaccine hesitancy” as one of the top 10 health threats to the world last year, depending on the disease between 75% and 95% of the population must be vaccinated to ensure herd immunity.

A 2018 Wellcome Trust survey of attitudes to vaccines globally found eight in 10 people (79%) somewhat or strongly agree vaccines are safe, while 7% somewhat or strongly disagree. Numbers vary around the world, with 72% in North America and 73% in northern Europe agreeing vaccines are safe, but only 59% in western Europe and 40% in eastern Europe.

The scale and gravity of the global coronavirus crisis may, however, be eroding vaccine resistance. A recent VCP survey in the world’s most immunisation-averse country, France, where 33% do not view vaccines as safe, found only 18% of respondents would refuse a coronavirus vaccine.

A poll in the UK in mid-March found about 7% of people would reject a coronavirus vaccine, while a second survey in early April – by which time the Covid-19 death toll was beginning to rise fast – showed the percentage had dropped to 5%.

In Russia – where according to the Wellcome Trust only 62% of people agree vaccines are effective – there are signs that concerns over the coronavirus crisis have caused conflict among anti-vaxxers and medical sceptics.

The administrator of The Truth about Vaccines, one of the largest social media groups dedicated to the issue, expressed frustration about the lack of discipline among its 100,000 members.

“You know what surprises me?” the anonymous administrator posted. I’m surprised by the reaction of vaccine opponents in this group. Many … believe there’s a coronavirus epidemic in Russia. That people are sick and dying from coronavirus.”

In Italy, Claudio Simion of the leading anti-vaxxer group Comilva said a vaccine was not the only solution and “may be a way to calm people”, but added: “We are not hostile towards vaccines out of principle”.

Elsewhere, however, the pandemic appears to have hardened anti-vaxxer attitudes. In the US, prominent figures in the movement have seized on Covid-19 to reinforce their arguments and push conspiracy theories.

Del Bigtree, the producer of Vaxxed, the 2016 “documentary” written by Wakefield, has put together an hour-long presentation – still available on Facebook and YouTube – that argues that Covid-19 is a set-up by the pharmaceutical industry to enrich itself.

Robert Kennedy Jr, the son of the assassinated Democratic leader, accused Bill Gates and top public health officials on Twitter of plotting to produce a vaccine with “unique and frightening dangers”.

Scott Ratzan, of the City University of New York’s school of public health, said he was alarmed by the results of a poll in New York City showing that only 53% of residents were sure to take a coronavirus vaccine and 29% would refuse.

“What if large numbers of people decide not to vaccinate themselves or their children?” Ratzan said. “Right now, barely half of New Yorkers tell us they’ll do that. If that is the case, we won’t be able to protect our community against a new wave.”

Larson said the timing of the vaccine’s release, forecast for some time in 2021, could be critical, with many likely to be deterred by any suggestion it might have had been rushed and not properly tested.

On balance, Larson said, she was not convinced the coronavirus would have a direct impact on anti-vaccination sentiment. But she did foresee a possible indirect impact, with coronavirus fears leading to the delay of measles vaccinations in 24 countries and their cancellation in 13 others, prompting concern from both the WHO and Unicef.

If vaccine hesitance does decrease after the Covid-19 crisis, Larson said, it would likely be as a result of “outbreaks of other diseases such as measles increasing because parents are afraid to take their infants to health centres during the pandemic”.

Additional reporting by Ed Pilkington, Andrew Roth and Angela Giuffrida

Coronavirus isn't shaking some prominent anti-vaxxers from their beliefs, expert says
The world's top tennis player, Novak Djokovic, said he may not return to the sport if he's required to take a COVID-19 vaccine

Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a backhand during his singles final against Alexander Zverev of Germany during Day Eight of the Nitto ATP Finals at The O2 Arena on November 18, 2018 in London, England.Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

National Post Staff April 21, 2020

Despite more than 170,000 dead and nearly 2.5 million infected people around the world, the coronavirus pandemic has hardened some anti-vaxxers’ beliefs while others are wavering.

The world’s top tennis player, Novak Djokovic, said he may not return to the sport if he’s required to take a vaccine.

There are 70 candidate vaccines currently under study, the World Health Organization states, with three in clinical evaluation.

“Personally I am opposed to vaccination and I wouldn’t want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel,” Djokovic said in a Facebook livestream with several fellow Serbian athletes on Sunday. “But if it becomes compulsory, what will happen? I will have to make a decision.”

He went on, “Hypothetically, if the season was to resume in July, August or September, though unlikely, I understand that a vaccine will become a requirement straight after we are out of strict quarantine and there is no vaccine yet.

The steadfast “extremists” are capitalizing on the growing COVID-19 pandemic, Heidi Larson, director of the London-based Vaccine Confidence Project, told The Guardian. “The belief-driven groups who reject vaccination on principle, whose aim is to disrupt and polarize, they’re not changing,” Larson said.

Prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the former senator, has amplified misinformation that Bill Gates had a role in creating the COVID-19 pandemic in order to profit from it. Gates, one of the richest men in the world with a net worth of more than $100 billion, has a philanthropic foundation that largely helps deliver healthcare and vaccines to developing countries.

Throughout the pandemic, Gates has written op-eds, posted on Reddit forums and appeared on TV, calling for expanded public health measures, vaccine development and increased testing, the New York Times reported.

On his Instagram, Kennedy frequently attacks Gates, claiming the billionaire intends to control the world and surveil the population through his funding and support for a coronavirus vaccine.

However, there was evidence that people who were “less sure for some reason, who maybe have issues with just one particular vaccine – the MMR jab for their children, for example – may behave differently in the context of this pandemic,” Larson said.

Haley Searcy, a 26-year-old mother from Florida told CNN, she was “fully anti-vax” when her daughter was born last year but the COVID-19 pandemic has changed her beliefs.

“Since COVID-19, I’ve seen firsthand what these diseases can do when they’re not being fought with vaccines,” she said. Before the virus hit, she feared her child dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome due to vaccines — a scientifically unfounded claim pushed by anti-vaxxers.

“My mother has a lung disease, so if she gets COVID-19 there is no fighting it. I learned as much as I could to speak out against misinformation in the hopes that I could convince more people to stay home and follow social distancing so that she won’t get sick,” she said.

“So many lives are at stake, including people I care about who are very vulnerable.”

The Vaccine Confidence Project launched an 18-month study with local partners around the world, conducting polls and analyze online conversations about COVID-19 to measure people’s attitudes towards a future vaccine.

Larson told The Guardian that after analyzing more than three million social media posts a day from January to March, she was certain that a vast majority of people were “eager for a coronavirus vaccine and as soon as possible.”

Though, there will be resistance, as the anti-vaccination movement has grown globally in large part due to a widely discredited paper by British doctor Andrew Wakefield. The disgraced doctor claimed there was a link between autism in children and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

ROBERT F KENNEDY JR. INSTAGRAM

"A New York Times reporter asked me yesterday about the conspiracy theory that #BillGates is developing injectable chip to store vaccine records. Here are the factsThe Bill and Melinda #GatesFoundation invested more than $21 million to perfect a microneedle technology that embeds, under the skin, a vaccination record visible by infrared light that can be read by a minimally-adopted smartphone technology.\u201d The technology will allow health officials to scan U.S. citizens to detect their vaccination compliance.A study funded by the Bill and Melinda #Gates Foundation and published in December 2019 by researchers from MIT, the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Gates-funded Intellectual Ventures Laboratory in Bellevue, WA, describes how near-infrared quantum dots will be implanted under the skin along with a vaccine to encode information for decentralized data storage and bio-sensing.Gates technology uses a tattoo-like mechanism to inject invisible nanoparticles subcutaneously. Gates researchers are now testing the implant with a vaccine against the #COVID-19 virus.\n\nThe Gates-funded report boasts that the chip system will allow house-to-house compliance searches to be conducted by government enforcement teams with minimal training, and will open up new avenues for decentralized data storage and biosensing. The #MIT paper is titled Biocompatible near-infrared quantum dots delivered to the skin by microneedle patches to record vaccination.Gates began funding implantable tracking chips and ratio biotechnology in 2011 with a grant to TransDerm Inc. Gates is currently making multiple investments to develop different versions, including grants to Vaxxas Pty Ltd, Micron Biomedical Inc, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Vaxess Technologies Inc.I urge you to contact Bill Gates on his social media. Gently explain that tagging and tracking humans may appeal to his government cronies in totalitarian China, but those activities are inconsistent with American values and traditions."

SURPRISE 

Coronavirus: Novak Djokovic reveals he's an anti-vaxxer and it may stop his return to tennis
The world number one admits his return to international competition could be delayed by his stance.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES ABOUND IN DJOKOVIC'S HOME REGION AND ARE PART OF THEIR HISTORICAL CULTURAL POLITICS

Monday 20 April 2020

Novak Djokovic speaks during a news conference before the coronavirus pandemic saw tennis tournaments cancelled

Novak Djokovic has revealed he is an anti-vaxxer and that it could get in the way of his return to competitive tennis once the sport resumes from the coronavirus pandemic.

The men's tennis world number one admitted his opposition to vaccinations, saying "I wouldn't want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine" and that if it were made compulsory he would have to make a decision.

Prominent figures in tennis have said all players should be vaccinated when competition starts again, provided a vaccination against COVID-19 is produced by then.

But speaking during a live Facebook discussion with several fellow Serbian athletes, Djokovic said: "Personally I am opposed to vaccination and I wouldn't want to be forced by someone to take a vaccine in order to be able to travel.

"But if it becomes compulsory, what will happen? I will have to make a decision.

"I have my own thoughts about the matter and whether those thoughts will change at some point, I don't know.

"Hypothetically, if the season was to resume in July, August or September, though unlikely, I understand that a vaccine will become a requirement straight after we are out of strict quarantine and there is no vaccine yet."

Amelie Mauresmo, herself a former women's tennis world number one, has said the sport should not resume unless players can be vaccinated, although scientists have repeatedly said that could be a year away and may not ever materialise.

Dual grand slam winner Mauresmo last month tweeted: "International circuit players of all nationalities plus management, spectators and people from the four corners of the world who bring these events to life. No vaccine = no tennis."

The COVID-19 outbreak has seen tennis governing bodies suspend all tournaments until 13 July at the earliest.

Wimbledon has been cancelled for the first time since the Second World War, and the French Open has been put back four months until late September.

The main agencies which work to promote vaccination say they have been highly successful at saving lives in the last few years.

Much of the scepticism around vaccination stems from a discredited study by British surgeon Andrew Wakefield that erroneously linked autism to the MMR vaccine. That study has been retracted, and nine years ago Wakefield was struck off the UK medical registry.

OPINION
Who’s Behind the ‘Reopen’ Protests?
They are anything but spontaneous.

By Lisa Graves
Ms. Graves is the executive director of True North Research and curator of KochDocs.
April 22, 2020

A protest against Michigan’s stay-at-home order outside the State Capitol last week.Credit...Seth Herald/Reuters

I first became aware of the political influence of Charles and David Koch in 2009 when I started looking into who was behind the protests at health care town halls.

The Tea Party, formed after America elected its first black president, used a series of health care town halls to spur angry Republicans to oppose the Affordable Care Act as a socialist takeover of American medicine. Little matter that it was modeled on a plan devised by Mitt Romney, a Republican, when he was the governor of Massachusetts.

Such false claims about the act have not aged well, as millions of Americans now depend on the law for health care coverage as the coronavirus contagion sweeps across the nation. And yet a Tea Party co-founder, Mark Meckler, is using the same tactics and same phony claims to stir his followers to protest against governors seeking to mitigate the Covid-19 death toll by closing businesses and banning public gatherings.

That public anger is both real and manufactured. The same was true in 2009, when the Koch fortune fueled the Tea Party’s attacks on the Obama administration’s health care law.

Still, the legend that the Tea Party was a spontaneous uprising took hold and continues to be peddled. As we face Tea Party 2.0, let’s not be fooled again.

The protests playing out now have the same feel as the Tea Party protests aided by Koch-financed Americans for Prosperity and others a decade ago — and with good reason: Early evidence suggests they are not organic but a brush fire being stoked by some of the same people and money that built the Tea Party.

Look no further than the first protest organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund — whose chairman manages the vast financial investments of Dick and Betsy DeVos, the Education Secretary — to see that the campaign to “open” America flows from the superrich and their front groups.

Stephen Moore — a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Koch ally and a Trump adviser — admitted as much in a video I obtained comparing these new protesters to Rosa Parks, as first reported in The Times.

Mr. Moore, who is now leading an enterprise to end the virus precautions called Save Our Country, which includes the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council, boasted that he has been working behind the scenes with a conservative donor who agreed to cover bail and legal fees for demonstrators who get arrested for defying Wisconsin’s virus protective measures.

More on the coronavirus demonstrations.
Protesters Pushing to Reopen Economy Are ‘Idiots,’ Says Top Manufacturing LobbyistApril 21, 2020

Opinion | Paul Krugman
The Right Sends In the QuacksApril 20, 2020

Opinion | Charlie Warzel
Protesting for the Freedom to Catch the CoronavirusApril 19, 2020


Others are providing legal assistance as well. The Times reports that a private Facebook group called Reopen NC has retained the legal services of Michael Best & Friedrich, a Wisconsin law firm whose clients include President Trump. The firm is well known for its work with dark-money groups that fought the recall of the Koch ally Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and waged war on unions.

Then there’s the Convention of States, established in 2015 with a big contribution from the conservative hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer. The group recruits activists at gun shows to support a balanced-budget amendment and is promoting the protests online via “Open the States.” COS is an offshoot of Citizens for Self-Governance, which Mr. Meckler co-founded with a longtime Koch operative, Eric O’Keefe.

To give you a flavor of what’s unfolding to help orchestrate these events, this week one of Mr. Meckler’s organizers told supporters via Facebook that “optics are everything” and that they should be sure to wear a mask to the protests and stand six feet apart — because it will make the crowds look bigger.

COS and a Koch-financed public relations firm, In Pursuit Of, are also purchasing domain names tied to protests to open the states, suggesting they are investing for a long battle — even as the death toll rises.

The consequences are already starting. One week after a Kentucky protest, the state experienced its largest spike in coronavirus cases. Other states may soon see similar spikes.

Those fanning these flames, including President Trump and Fox News hosts, are unlikely to get burned by infection themselves, though they may be goading their followers to risk their health by attending mass demonstrations.

America is now facing three calamities: a deadly contagion, a capricious president and a well-funded right-wing infrastructure willing to devalue human life in pursuit of its political agenda. Some very rich men and women are making this medical disaster worse through their reckless bellows, inflaming people to demand that states open now no matter how many lives that costs.

Lisa Graves is the executive director of True North Research and curator of KochDocs, and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice. 


RIGHT WING NUTS ANTI COVID-19 PROTESTS 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/4/who-is-behind-coronavirus-social.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-tea-party-linked-group-plans-to.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/conservative-group-linked-to-devos.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/opinion-whos-behind-reopen-protests.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/america-has-descended-into-coronavirus.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/pro-trump-protesters-push-back-on-stay.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/fringe-right-closes-down-michigan.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/these-people-arent-freedom.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-quiet-hand-of-conservative-groups.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/pro-trump-protesters-push-back-on-stay.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/protesters-decry-stay-at-home-orders-in.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/trump-ally-lickspittle-bootlicker.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-rightwing-groups-behind-wave-of.html

 IT SPREAD TO CANADA 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/reckless-yahoos-protest-at-queens-park.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/canada-eh-great-anti-vaxxer-coronavirus.html

Conservative leadership candidate under fire for asking whether top pandemic doctor 'works for China'
Scheer refuses to comment on Derek Sloan's words, says it's up to him to explain them

Kathleen Harris · CBC News · Posted: Apr 23, 2020

Conservative MP Derek Sloan attends a Conservative caucus retreat on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
A Conservative leadership candidate is facing an angry backlash after he suggested Canada's chief public health officer is working for China and should be fired for giving bad advice to the government on the COVID-19 crisis.

Derek Sloan, an MP from eastern Ontario who is running to lead his party under the slogan "Conservative - Without Apology," posted a message and video on Facebook and Twitter this week claiming that Dr. Theresa Tam had "failed Canadians."
"Dr. Tam must go! Canada must remain sovereign over decisions. The UN, the WHO, and Chinese Communist propaganda must never again have a say over Canada's public health!" he wrote.

"Does [Tam] work for Canada or for China?" Sloane asks in a tweeted video. He also accused the country's top doctor of parroting lines from the World Health Organization (WHO) after it repeated "misinformation" disseminated by the communist Chinese government.

His remarks drew swift condemnation on social media, with some calling his words "repugnant," "vile" and "xenophobic."

Tam, who was born in British Hong Kong and grew up in the U.K., has denounced the rise in anti-Asian racist incidents in Canada since the novel coronavirus erupted in Wuhan, China.

Watch: Tam reacts to suggestion that she's working for China


Dr Theresa Tam, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer spoke to reporters on Parliament Hill on Thursday. 0:57

Today, she brushed off Sloan's comments as "noise."

"I'm a pretty focused person and I work really, really hard," Tam said, adding that she has been working more than 20 hours a day.

"My singular focus is to work with all my colleagues to get this epidemic wave under control. I don't let noise sort of detract me from doing that."
Watch: Scheer declines to comment on remarks about Tam

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is pressed by reporters on comments made by Conservative MP Derek Sloan criticizing Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam.

CHICKENSHIT

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer repeatedly refused to denounce or comment on Sloan's remarks.

"I won't be commenting on individual statements or positions that leadership candidates take. That's up for them to explain, and ultimately the members of our party will decide when they vote in a leadership race," he said.

Scheer has raised concerns about the WHO's track record during the pandemic and its relationship with the communist regime in China, but has directed his criticism of Canada's response to the pandemic at the Liberal government rather than Tam.

"We've got serious concerns about the accuracy of the information coming out of the WHO and it's incumbent upon this government to explain why they have based so many of their decisions on the WHO," Scheer said earlier this month.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked today about the rise in anti-Asian racist incidents across Canada generally and Sloan's statement specifically.

Watch: Trudeau denounces racist acts in Canada



Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls out racism as Conservative MP Derek Sloan faces backlash for his criticism of Dr. Theresa Tam. 1:02

"Intolerance and racism have no place in our country," he said.

"Canada has succeeded because of our diversity. It is one of our greatest strengths, and the millions of Canadians of all different backgrounds who are working together ... to help their fellow Canadians deserve better than this from all of us.

"We need to continue in our resolve to be an open, welcoming, respectful country and I think all Canadians expect that of every politician."


NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Sloan's comments could incite racism and Scheer should condemn them.

"From the beginning of this crisis, we've heard horrible stories of abuse faced by Asian Canadians, particularly those of Chinese descent. There is no question that MP Sloan's comments against Dr. Theresa Tam fuel this kind of racism. Andrew Scheer needs to clearly denounce this," he tweeted.

ANALYSIS An ill wind: The pandemic is giving states political cover for controversial acts
Canada's chief public health officer condemns racist acts linked to coronavirus outbreak

REPUBLICAN LIKE 
Sloan's leadership campaign website says "the damage to free speech, freedom of religion and freedom of conscience happening in Canada can not be understated. It's time for everyone concerned about these issues to stand up and support a candidate who will not just pay lip service but get in the line of fire to defend these freedoms."

Sloan's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CBC News

Opinion
Emergency Student Benefit gets a failing grade - just make the CERB universal

Student-specific CESB brings bureaucratic headaches, inefficient splintering of support programs

Zoë Christmas · for CBC News Opinion · Posted: Apr 23, 2020 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, seen here during his daily press conference at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on April 19, announced initiatives Wednesday to help support students during what's expected to be a summer with scarce employment prospects. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

This column is an opinion by Zoë Christmas, a law student and research assistant at McGill University in Montreal. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new benefit plan Wednesday for students who face summer job precarity given the COVID-19 pandemic. While the gesture is appreciated, this benefit is simply not good enough.

Post-secondary students — who are scheduled to finish term next week — are confronted with few summer employment prospects. Businesses remain closed and jobs in sectors that typically hire summer students, such as the service industry, continue to dwindle.

"For a lot of students, the month of May normally marks the start of a summer job. But right now it might be really tough to find something. You may have been looking for weeks without any success," Trudeau said Wednesday.

Students who were not yet employed before the pandemic outbreak, and who therefore had not technically lost a job due to COVID-19, did not qualify for the federal government's previously announced Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) financial support package. This left students across the country anxious about how they'd be able to pay rent and bills over the coming months — let alone the thousands of dollars in tuition that will be due in September

Find the COVID-19 benefits and programs relevant to you

More than 44,500 students have expressed concern on a Change.org petition. An open letter to Trudeau sent April 15 on behalf of dozens of Canadian student associations called on the federal government to make sure students did not fall between the cracks.

On Wednesday, Trudeau announced a series of responses to attend to this predicament, including changes to student grants and loans. Notably, the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) provides $1,250 per month for the next four months to eligible students.

While it addresses some of the concerns, this benefit is not particularly well thought out.






Watch
First, the Prime Minister did not justify why students deserve $750 less per month than those who qualify for the CERB.

The cost of living for students does not differ drastically from that of the average population. While some students may receive help from their parents, many live independently and have to pay all the same expenses, such as rent, groceries, and phone bills.

Moreover, students are due to receive their annual tuition invoice — which averages nearly $6,500 — in September. Add to that the costs of things like books, school materials and housing, and the $5,000 the federal government has pledged for the following four months does not measure up for students who won't be able to find jobs this summer.

Students facing bleak job market this summer

Post-secondary students worried about making rent, paying for groceries

Second, while students can be eligible for the CESB even if they earn up to $1,000 per month, the benefit is still insufficient.

The $1,000 monthly CESB earnings cap echoes the new rules Trudeau announced in order for the CERB to support part-time workers, and although this measure is welcome, it is not suitable in the student context. The combined potential maximum of $2,250 per month still barely addresses the expenses that students face, and capping earnings at $1,000 per month can disincentivize people from seeking full-time, higher-earning work.

Accordingly, either the benefit or the earning cap should be raised to $2,000 per month.



Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough goes over the types of jobs she hopes the government can line up for students this summer. 0:40

However, even fine-tuning student benefit would simply reproduce the same issues we've seen with the CERB, namely inefficient splintering, bureaucratic headaches, and, most importantly, the fact that so many people in need remain left behind.

A more principled approach would be to establish a universal basic income (UBI).

Indeed, a $2,000 monthly UBI would not only be the simplest option, but the most equitable. While some Canadians may not be in need of a stimulus cheque, any UBI overpayments could be recovered next tax season. And for those living in poverty, $2,000 a month could be a life-changing amount of money.

The Canada Emergency Student Benefit is a move in the right direction, but the federal government needs to do better. Make the CERB universal.

US Poultry industry struggles with plunging sales, coronavirus deaths

BY ALEX GANGITANO - THE HILL- 04/23/20 

© Getty Images

Poultry producers are suffering through plummeting sales as restaurants, schools and other venues close their doors during the coronavirus pandemic.

The industry has also found itself in the same company as pork plants and slaughterhouses that have reported outbreaks and deaths related to the virus.

There are now five coronavirus-related deaths at poultry processing plants, matching the death toll at pork and beef production facilities.

But unlike the other industries, chicken processing plants have largely remained open, with closures being limited to a few days just for cleanings. And there appear to be fewer large-scale outbreaks at plants, though some chicken processors have been reluctant to release figures on how many employees have tested positive.

“I don’t know if it’s just a matter of chance that they’ve seen more cases in the pork plants,” said Mary Muth, a program director and research economist at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute.

Four employees of a Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Georgia died from the coronavirus earlier this month, but the plant and all poultry plants run by the company remain open. Tyson would not confirm how many employees have tested positive, however.

An employee at a Wayne Farms poultry plant in Alabama died this month, and 75 workers tested positive, but that plant also remains open, ABC News reported.

By contrast, pork processing plants have had more than 660 cases and beef production plants have had more than 100 cases, with activity halted for several days at different facilities, threatening food supply lines.

Some experts say the highly regulated sanitation levels for chicken processing plants, particularly to guard against salmonella, could be contributing to the lower case counts.

“The poultry facilities are super, duper clean and if they were not, they would not be open. They have inspectors on site and people reporting to inspectors,” Brian Ladman, senior scientist in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences at the University of Delaware, told The Hill.

The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association said its members have enhanced sanitation at processing facilities and practice social distancing in common areas.

But some experts say social distancing in those environments is nearly impossible.

“It would be pretty hard to socially distance. Everything is shared facilities. It does raise the concern of will we see more closures over time?” Muth said of chicken processing plants.

Even with plants remaining open, the industry is still struggling to find new markets to balance out the drop-off in sales beyond grocery stores.

The National Chicken Council (NCC), which represents about 95 percent of the chicken produced in the US, including Tyson, Perdue, Sanderson Farms and Pilgrim’s Pride, reported that sales are up for retail but not enough to offset food service losses, which is roughly 50 percent of its market.

The turkey industry is still assessing potential losses in revenue as a result of the pandemic.

“We do know disruptions in food service will have an acute impact on the industry,” said Beth Breeding, vice president of communications and marketing for the National Turkey Federation.

“Turkey processors have been able to keep plants operating without any significant closures while also taking critical steps to ensure the health and wellbeing of workers,” Breeding said.

Experts caution, though, that poultry supply chains aren’t immune to the same problems that have hit other food industries.

“The bottom line is our food chain is not easily redirected. We’re talking long-term contracts in some cases, we’re talking projections,” Ladman said. “So when things are thrown off the rails, we’re kind of stuck. Food is not easily canned or frozen and then stored.”

It’s also not easy for most companies to quickly switch gears and shift food service sales to retail.

“One of the big issues for plants that produce for food service, in addition to the product not being what consumers are used to buying, they don’t have the packaging they need, they don’t have the labeling that they need, and most importantly, they don’t have the business relationship to redirect that to different sellers,” Muth said.

The Michigan Allied Poultry Industries, which represents 54 family turkey farms and sells 60 percent of turkeys to restaurants and food services, said demand has plunged 70 percent.

“It’s definitely reaching critical levels between diminished demand and falling prices,” said Executive Director Allison Brink.


For those that have established ties with grocery stores, business is good.

Brian Fairchild, a professor in the University of Georgia's Poultry Science Department, said Georgia companies he’s spoken to have seen increases in retail sales.

“Restaurant sales are down of course. If they have the materials and capability, the processing plants that can are shifting some of their restaurant product to retail. Currently in Georgia we have been fortunate enough that the companies have been able to run at full capacity as far as I know,” he said. “For now, chicken is moving through the poultry production process close to normal if not at a normal pace in Georgia.”

For producers that are suffering, the federal government could help alleviate some of that pain.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a $19 billion relief program last week to help farmers that have experienced at least a 5 percent loss in revenue.

“USDA worked to build up this program from the ground up, evaluating the impacts of COVID-19 throughout the agricultural and food sector and then reviewed the resources we had available to do the best we can with what we have,” a USDA spokesperson said. “As we implement and get applications, we will continue to evaluate impacts and work with Congress as more resources are needed.”

One part of the poultry industry has seen sales spike — direct farm-to-table sales are thriving during the pandemic.

The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association, which represents independent farmers, reported 100 percent to 500 percent increases in sales.

“The very positive thing that we’ve seen is consumers, as they are unsure about where to get food these days … they’re turning to the farms near them, in their neighborhood, and buying directly from the farmers — eggs and chicken,” Executive Director Mike Badger said. “There’s a real resurgence of that regional commerce going on and interactions happening between the eater and the farm.”

Daniel Salatin, the owner of the Polyface Farms in Virginia, said sales are up about 300 percent. Ten percent of sales have been shipped to homes, 20 percent have been picked up at the farm and 70 percent have been delivered to homes or neighborhood drop-off points.

He credited some of that to news reports of workers at food processing plants falling ill, prompting some customers to want to know more about where their food comes from.

“Our new-customer purchases have exploded for that very reason. We’re doing the best to keep up. We’re not able to necessarily take everybody,” he said.

TRUMP MINI ME
Despite grim COVID-19 numbers, Alberta premier sees brighter days ahead

Province reports five more COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday and 306 new cases

The biggest outbreak in the province involves a Cargill meat-processing plant in High River. As of Tuesday, 401 workers from the plant had tested positive. One worker had died, and another 114 cases have been linked to that outbreak.

CBC News · Posted: Apr 22, 2020 

Premier Jason Kenney Kenney said he will meet Thursday with the province's relaunch working group and hopes to have an update for the public next week with more details about Alberta's strategy. (Art Raham/CBC)
While the province reported its highest single-day number of COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, there was some hesitant talk from Alberta officials about better times ahead.

Premier Jason Kenney told a news conference that Alberta has made great progress in slowing the spread of coronavirus and still has relatively few people being treated in hospitals for COVID-19.

"I know this is getting increasingly difficult for Albertans, but I do believe with the progress we've made that we can see light at the end of the tunnel here," Kenney said. "And we are doing so much better than many other jurisdictions, exactly because Albertans have risen to the challenge."



Seventy people are currently in hospital for COVID-19, with 18 of them in intensive care units, hospitalization numbers that are well below the level projected in the Alberta Health Services modelling released two weeks ago, the premier said.

If people remain vigilant about personal hygiene, if they stay at home, maintain physical distancing, wear face coverings in crowded public places and observe public health orders, Alberta will be able to look at cautiously restarting the economy "as soon as possible," based on the advice of public health officials, Kenney said.


Key measures

The province's top public health official also spoke cautiously about the future.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, said Alberta would have to meet two key measurements before health restrictions could be eased.

The first would be stable or declining rates of hospitalization along with a stable or declining number of cases over a period one or two weeks.

"The other part of the picture is where those cases are coming from," she said, "and if we have the ability to identify that many of them are from one particular location or outbreak, and if we have the means to control that outbreak."

Kenney said he will meet Thursday with the province's relaunch working group and hopes to have an update for the public next week with more details about Alberta's strategy.


The numbers

Five more people in Alberta died from COVID-19 and the province reported 306 new cases of the illness over the past 24 hours.

That brought the total number of cases to 3,401, and the number of deaths to 66.

A total of 4,151 tests for the illness were conducted in those 24 hours.

As of Wednesday, 108,521 people had been tested, an average of 2,164 tests per day since March 4, Kenney said.

Kenney announced that Alberta is again sending medical equipment to help Quebec, the province hit hardest by the pandemic, where more than 1,300 people are in hospital, more than 200 of them in intensive care.

The province will send 25 ventilators to Quebec, the premier said.

Quebec has more than 21,000 cases of COVID-19, and has seen more than 1,100 deaths.

Alberta currently has about 600 ventilators in its stockpile, Kenney said, and on any given day uses about 100 of the machines to treat patients with COVID-19 and other serious illnesses.

"Our rates of infection, hospitalization, ICU admissions and ventilator use are much, much lower and far below what we had modelled," Kenney said. "And our stockpile of medical equipment, including ventilators, remains far larger than both our current and anticipated needs, even based on the elevated model that we released two weeks ago.

"We project that we will have a margin of several hundred ventilators, even at the peak of the pandemic, in Alberta. Given that abundance of supply, we cannot stand by indifferently as COVID threatens the lives of our fellow Canadians in other areas, including Quebec."

Later this week, the province will send 20,000 procedural masks to Northwest Territories, Kenney said.

Alberta also reported its first case on a First Nation on Wednesday.

SOUTHERN ALBERTA

One person on Sucker Creek First Nation, about 22 kilometres east of High Prairie, has tested positive, Hinshaw said. The person on the First Nation was in contact with someone with COVID-19 in High Prairie, she said.

The First Nation is well prepared to deal with COVID-19, Hinshaw said, though the residents there are already dealing with flooding.

"I'd like to commend Sucker Creek First Nation for showing exceptional resilience, with support from a strong partnership of health services and all levels of government," she said. "And they have my best wishes as they deal with this issue of the flood."


The regional breakdown of the cases is:
Calgary zone: 2,396
Edmonton zone: 451
South zone: 303
North zone: 150
Central zone: 79
Unknown: 20

There are 375 cases of COVID-19 at continuing care facilities in the province, which have recorded 44 deaths do far, Hinshaw said.

An outbreak linked to the Kearl Lake oilsands facility north of Fort McMurray has expanded to 32 cases, Hinshaw said. Twenty-five of the cases are people in Alberta, with 10 of them in isolation at the work camp itself. Five of the linked cases are people in B.C. and one each is from Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.

The biggest outbreak in the province involves a Cargill meat-processing plant in High River. As of Tuesday, 401 workers from the plant had tested positive. One worker had died, and another 114 cases have been linked to that outbreak.

COVID-19 cases confirmed at 3 Alberta meat-packing plants
Cases have been reported at Cargill, JBS and Harmony — which produce most of Canada's beef

Sarah Rieger · CBC News · Apr 15, 2020

COVID-19 cases have been confirmed at three Alberta meat-packing plants and the union representing workers is asking companies to proactively shut down. (Bryan Eneas/CBC News)

Cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at a third Alberta meat-packing plant, according to the union that represents those workers.

United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union local 401 president Thomas Hesse said three cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at the JBS plant in Brooks, Alta.

At the Cargill plant in High River, there are 38 COVID-19 cases, and in March one worker at Harmony Beef in Balzac tested positive. 

Dedicated testing centre

Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said while local health officials have resolved the situation at Harmony, the number of cases at Cargill have prompted Alberta Health Services to open a dedicated testing centre at that plant this week.

"Local public health has worked with these locations to ensure close contacts are isolated and prevent transmission. There is no risk to the public from food produced in these plants," Hinshaw said.

Hesse said the union has reached out to those plants — as well as Olymel pork plant in Red Deer — to request the companies proactively shut down to keep workers safe.

"They've all said no. But Cargill has in some ways, done what we've asked because of pressure," Hesse said, adding that the plant has reduced operations significantly.

Hesse said 1,000 workers at Cargill have been laid off and another 500 are without shifts.

But John Nash, the North American lead for Cargill Protein, said no layoffs are happening. Instead, he said a second shift at the plant has been cancelled and workers are being allowed to switch shifts if they are healthy and able to work.

1,000 workers temporarily laid off at Alberta meat plant with COVID-19 outbreak, union says

Union says 38 confirmed COVID-19 cases at Cargill meat plant cause for closure


Watch

Cargill responds to union's request to close plant for COVID-19 cleaning


Should Canadians be concerned about beef supply? A Cargill spokesperson says no, even with COVID-19 cases at three Alberta plants. 5:03

Nash said the plant is working with Alberta Health and its own safety officials, and will consider shutting down if necessary. Enhanced screenings, barriers between work stations and other physical-distancing measures have been put in place.

"If it comes to a point where we can't do what we need to do safely, we will not run that facility," Nash said.

A JBS Food Canada spokesperson confirmed its Brooks plant is staying open, and that workers have tested positive in some of its facilities.

"We are providing support to those team members and their families, and we hope they all make a full and speedy recovery. Out of respect for the families, we are not releasing further information," an emailed statement from JBS read.

The company said enhanced health and safety measures have been put in place.

"The food supply is a critical infrastructure industry and we have a special responsibility to maintain operations on behalf of the country. We take this responsibility seriously," the statement read.

Hesse said the plants are built to have workers in close quarters, making physical distancing challenging.

Roughly a dozen meat-packing plants in North America have shut down due to coronavirus.

The industry is a demanding one not withstanding the risk of infection due to close quarters, with workers subject to physical labour and repetitive tasks.

"Workers do work side-by-side ... crowded hallways, crowded locker rooms, crowded lunch rooms, crowded washrooms and of course a crowded production floor," Hesse said.

"This is a very profoundly unique time, and I just don't know why society is prepared to say 'stay home, do everything you can to prevent the spread of this virus' ... but we're allowing a free-for-all in food processing plants and grocery stores."

Cattle group looks for help to weather COVID-19 as meat-packers slow work

Those three plants represent roughly three-quarters of Canada's beef suppliers — Cargill alone, which supplies McDonald's Canada among others, accounts for more than one-third.

A cattle industry group has reached out to the federal government to ask that measures be put in place to slow the supply chain, as plants have to change operations to adapt.

If cases of COVID-19 continue to multiply, labour shortages could affect food supplies and undermine Canada's critical infrastructure, an internal government briefing note obtained by CBC News warns.

Pandemic could affect food supplies, power grids, telecommunications, says government document

The document, prepared by Public Safety Canada, says accelerating rates of illness among Canadians could create labour shortages in essential services.

The two most "pressing" areas of concern, it says, are procurement of medical goods and the stability of the food supply chain.

Nash said Canadians should not be concerned about beef supply at this point but he said pressure to stay open will never lead to the company operating in an unsafe manner.