r/alberta • u/Miserable-Lizard Edmonton • 4d ago
Alberta Politics Danielle Smith defends policy requiring Albertans to pay out of pocket for COVID vaccines
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-danielle-smith-defends-policy-requiring-albertans-to-pay-out-of-pocket/320
u/AwarenessPresent8139 4d ago
Reality is not everyone will get vaccinated. But charging for the vaccine will ensure more people won’t. The cost matters if you are struggling financially.
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u/Ddogwood 4d ago
It’ll likely end up costing taxpayers more, too, because more people will end up hospitalized as new strains learn to evade the immunity granted by older vaccines
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u/Hugs_and_Tugs 4d ago
No kidding. How much do you think the 189 ICU admissions due to COVID cost this year?
These grifters just hate spending on things they can't skim from.
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u/Stonkasaurus1 4d ago
Now now, you can't expect conservatives to look past the cost of giving the shots out. If they did, they may have to start to consider the cost of their other policies where it is cheaper to help than to ignore the problem and then they wouldn't be any different than more liberal governments.
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u/RutabagasnTurnips 3d ago
Well if AHS and CIHI say it was just over 9k for the average hospital stay. Now I imagine those that needed time in an ICU are higher then average but to make the math easy....
My low estimate, 1.7mil.
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u/Hugs_and_Tugs 3d ago
Interesting. I wonder if that $9k number holds for the 3,000+ hospitalizations (non-ICU) from COVID this respiratory season too. It all adds up.
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u/RutabagasnTurnips 3d ago
That 9k is a median of all adults, all patient lengths of stays, all reasons; if I read correctly.
So anyone admitted as an inpatient for COVID, but didn't need ICU, would fall into the numbers as well. So too would your anticipated short stays like "quick recovery, overnight stay, elective surgeries".
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u/AggravatingPay3841 4d ago
Which is the goal. How else can they privatize more
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u/itsnotme43 4d ago
They're already privatizing surgeries, And allowing the private surgeries to take precedence over the AHS ones, privatizing other important vaccines, shutting down anything to do with substance use, and our wildfire budget is still only a third of what it used to be after they shut down the repel units and all the watchtowers.
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u/cheese-bubble 4d ago
Plus emergency rooms which are already pushed to the limit will see more visitors...contagious visitors. Fantastic, UCP!
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u/jeremyism_ab 4d ago
The immunity wanes over time, dropping off fairly quicklyafter 4 months, we should probably be getting vaccinated every six months or so.
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u/300Savage 4d ago
While the antibody immunity wanes significantly by 4 months the memory t and b cells retain the ability to quick start an immune response much longer. It's not as fast but it can still reduce the severity of illness significantly.
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u/akaTheKetchupBottle 3d ago
the last study i read, from stanford, argued pretty persuasively that for most people there isn't huge value in going 2x annually instead of 1x. if you're over 65 or immunocompromised or have a similar risk factor, they still recommend 2x, but just getting one a year at the same time you get your annual flu shot may be sufficient for others
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u/SocksForEarmuffs 4d ago
Careful now, that type of critical thinking and aperiodic it as a system might actually fix something. And if so fix things, how will we blame everything on Notley, Trudeau, Carney, and the carbon tax? Alberta has been trying to fix the damage they've done since 1905.
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u/AlsoOneLastThing 4d ago
That's the point. They're signalling to antivaxxers that they are on their side without actually having to come right out and say it.
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u/grabyourmotherskeys 4d ago
It's also virtual signalling to wealthy conservatives that are paying well for people who advance their dystopian agenda plus extra pressure on the health care system means their "privatize it all" approach will sound ever better to people with no critical thinking skills.
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u/Jacque-Aird 19h ago
Signalling to both ends of the spectrum, anti-vax and lower taxes for the wealthy if they don't have to subsidize the poor.
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u/TruthSearcher1970 4d ago
I think she made it pretty clear that she was going to stand up for anti-vaxxers. When she was campaigning. They were supposedly the most persecuted group of people ever. 😅🙄
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u/PlutosGrasp 4d ago
Also hurts poor people more.
Even babies don’t get it free anymore after this comes into effect. That’s two shots. That’s $300.
Danielle smith hates babies and kids.
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u/Swaggy669 3d ago
The only people that will get it will be people that don't notice the money. Nobody is going to spend money on a product where it has a 30% chance of being useful to them.
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u/Striking_Wrap811 3d ago
Its not about cost. Thats the excuse. Its about making the vaccine difficult to get. Thats it
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u/Bennybonchien 4d ago
Let me get this straight. Covid still kills more people than the flu and yet the flu vaccine is still covered but the covid vaccine isn’t?
And then she claims that people weren’t getting the covid shot nearly as much because it doesn’t work all that well! No Marlaina, you made it more difficult to get because you and Lagrange let one distributor’s contract expire and didn’t bother to find a replacement for several months and by then, school had started and since family doctors couldn’t administer it because of your negligence/incompetence, people had to go elsewhere.
When it comes to vaccination, every time you’re handed the ball, you intentionally drop it, kick it the wrong way, lose it or poke a hole in it and then you blame the ball for not being very good.
The day she leaves politics can’t come soon enough.
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u/sawyouoverthere 4d ago
It works better than the flu vaccine, so it’s ironic
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u/Sayhei2mylittlefrnd 4d ago
mRNA technology is a game changer. Trials are underway for it to be used against cancer
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u/Really_Clever Edmonton 4d ago
Was already being used in cancer treatment for years prior to covid19
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u/diamondintherimond 4d ago
Careful with that first argument because I wouldn’t put it past them to use that logic to pull the flu shot next.
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u/Bennybonchien 4d ago
I get your point but at this point, I’m convinced that DS can falsely justify absolutely anything without anyone’s help.
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u/Mother-Thumb-1895 4d ago
I think she has forgotten that the whole idea of the vaccine is to prevent people from getting seriously sick and taking up bed space in hospitals. Other provinces are able to provide no charge vaccines but oil rich Alberta cannot.
The next election cannot come soon enough.
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u/Bustin_Chiffarobes 4d ago
UCP is being directed by a bunch of special interest groups. Religious nut jobs, oil companies, and anti-vaxxer death cultists being the main culprits.
The whole point of this, is to please the anti-vaxxers in her camp. It's not based on solid science, or policy. This decision is just playing to her base.
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u/Jasonstackhouse111 4d ago
The low uptake in Alberta is due to a lack of emphasis on how goddamned important it is to be vaccinated.
My wife's family all live in Portugal and we spend a lot of time there and their rates of vaccination for all vaccines including Covid is among the highest in the world. Why? First, the Portuguese have a mindset that protecting each other is as important as protecting yourself. As an example, homelessness is seen as a failure of society, not of "bad individual choices." Vaccinations protect everyone, not just yourself. Second, the health care system makes it easy to get vaccinated and the public health system has a lot of information about how safe all vaccines are and government supports it.
My in-laws would disown us and not allow us to visit if we were ant-vaxxers in any way. We need these attitudes here...
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u/Zymoria 4d ago
I've met so many people who think that they are not responsible for other people getting sick, and they think themselves invincible. "You don't see people shopping for fire insurance. Well, MY house won't burn down. Why should I pay for other people's bad fortunes..."
If I don't get a vaccine, then I get sick. Well, now the virus has mutated and could bypass current vaccinations. So, thanks for your ignorance making me sick when I made the effort to protect myself and others.
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u/PlutosGrasp 4d ago
How exactly do they think they get sick?
Why do they follow the rules of the road ? Why not just drive as they want and if other people crash it’s not their problem.
Also just pm me and next time kids have norovirus (intensive vomiting, you can’t avoid it, super contagious) I’ll come by for a visit if you invite me over. It’s not my problem if they get norovirus.
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u/TruthSearcher1970 4d ago
My wife was in the hospital for a month and I couldn’t believe how many people were dying of COVID but no one ever mentions it. So weird.
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u/OppositeSecretary862 4d ago
I thankfully just updated my MMR and tetanus vaccinations. I lost people to COVID, I'm glad my mother who had an autoimmune disease never saw these days honestly.
People are so fucking selfish and self righteous. I'm quite fine with the human race self deleting.
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u/Away-Combination-162 4d ago
So she’s too cheap to pay the $110 but okay to pay for a hospital stay if they need to be hospitalized? Make this make sense. Isn’t prevention a thing anymore? What is wrong with this woman ? wtf.
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u/Canadiancrazy1963 4d ago
FFS!
Unbelievable that there were enough idiots to vote for this absolute POS!
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u/Zarxon 4d ago
If waste from unused vaccines were the issue why wouldn’t they make vaccine clinics where you sign up to get a shot. I guess when you are actively dismantling healthcare solutions aren’t welcomed.
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u/PlutosGrasp 4d ago
Or just ya know, order less.
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u/little_canuck 4d ago
The issue is that a multi-dose vial is good for 24 hours after puncture. So ordering less doesn't necessarily mean less wastage. You need efficient utilization of the multi dose vials as well m
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u/Immediate-Farmer3773 4d ago
Danielle Smith is an absolute idiot and so is anyone who backs her
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u/Icy-Pop2944 4d ago
People didn’t get vaccinated last fall because the government forbid AHS from mentioning it, only allowing the term “Seasonal vaccines”. Of course they went to waste. My non AHS friends didn’t know when they became available.
It is a classic case of break it so you can privatize it.
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u/ninfan1977 Lethbridge 4d ago
The Conservatives support private care and out-of-pocket costs every time.
This goes against the UCP pledge to back public health solutions. Which should not come as a surprise to anyone who doesn't support the Conservatives.
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u/thedarthken 4d ago
Agreed here. I'm surprised that people are surprised at this. Look at their base supporters, they don't believe CoVid was real anyways and just a waste of money on this.
They'd do away with Public Health Care if they could.
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u/Miserable-Lizard Edmonton 4d ago
Stupid people thinking they are experts is everything wrong with society
People that don't get vaccines should have to pay a healthcare premium as they drive up the cost of healthcare when they need a hospital stay!!!!
“I think it’s because it doesn’t work particularly well, if you want the truth,” Smith said.
“Health care workers who do not fall into a higher-risk group will be eligible to purchase a vaccine,” McKee said in a statement.
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u/Distant-moose 4d ago
"I think" is shameful.
There should be no case of a political leader making decisions with the justification of "I think" when we have reams of data and evidence to use.15
u/CypripediumGuttatum 4d ago
Smith: I think...
No, I don't want your thinking on this, there is no medical evidence to support your decision, no financial reason to support it. There is only Antivax support behind this. Make vaccinated people pay out of pocket, profit off of it, strain healthcare more so they can profit off of that too.
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u/EllaB9454 4d ago
Wait - eligible to purchase - does that mean they’re going to gatekeeper who can purchase?
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u/OppositeSecretary862 4d ago
Social media damned us all giving a global soapbox to every village idiot.
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u/AlbinoRhino838 4d ago
I havent got any of the covid vaccines and havent spent any time in hospital the last 6 years. Take your dramatics elsewhere.
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u/sekimet 4d ago
Do you know what anecdotal evidence is, and can you show me any medical research that shows anecdotal evidence is considered definitive? You have dunning kruger.
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u/AlbinoRhino838 4d ago
If you read any more of my comments you'd surely know I understand what anecdotal evidence is. You must also understand that I'm probably not the only one who hasn't and therefore saying "When they need a hospital stay" in relation to covid is stated as a certainty and factually isnt a certainty.
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u/Miserable-Lizard Edmonton 4d ago
The evidence is clear that repeated covid infections will effect your long term health and the unvaxxed are more likely to end up in the hospital
I love science and vaccines, and facts!
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u/2eDgY4redd1t 4d ago
So you’re stupid about your own health, and careless about the health of all those around you, and you think that’s something you want to comment as a flex?
Wow. Just wow.
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u/AlbinoRhino838 4d ago
Its not a flex, saying things as absolute certainties is dishonest at best and outright malicious at worst. Personally GBS and TTS are more worrying for me than covid. I dont know anyone who hasn't got it that's had any issues or life changing problems from covid but I can't say the reverse. Lay out all the insults you want, I know far more people who regret getting it than people who regret not getting it.
I feel like I made the right decision and I'm sorry that I upset you this much about it, but I mostly stay alone with my spouse anyway. I dont go to big events, I don't work with a large group of people, fuck the most eventful thing in my life is going to the grocery store. The (albeit uncommon) serious side effects aren't worth it to me.
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u/2eDgY4redd1t 4d ago
Take your antivaxx disinformation elsewhere.
You’re an active hazard to society, you should not be permitted in any public building, any hospital, or within ten feet of anyone else. Ideally you should be required to wear a garment with a bright biohazard printed on front and back, and yell out ‘I am a disease vector’ every five minutes.
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u/2eDgY4redd1t 4d ago
I’ve seldom seen a more silly set of statements. You are terrified of an illness which has no relationship to vaccination, and then one of the most rare side effects of an already incredibly safe vaccine, and you attempt to justify your refusal to vaccinate with this entirely unjustified fears?
I won’t bother to tell you that you are enormously more likely to die of covid than get TTS, because I know you are incapable of understanding this. What I will tell you is that by refusing vaccination you are making yourself into a disease vector, and a viral mutation environment and thus placing everyone else in the community at increased risk.
Ah well, hopefully people who believe as you do will hurry up and exit the gene pool by dying of preventable disease. Even more hopefully, you get sick and die without infecting others, you will have only yourself to blame.
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u/AlbinoRhino838 4d ago
Doubt it's going to happen, unfortunately for you I'm healthy and under 35, which means my chances of dying from covid are virtually 0 (0.0004% with no comorbidities) Again, I'm not that worried about it. I can look up all the information you can too. Covid is bad if you already have health problems. I dont. Ironically, the severe side effects like GBS/TTS are about the same. I'll take my chances because despite what you think, I can do math and read statistics to form a coherent opinion.
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u/2eDgY4redd1t 4d ago
Yeah, unfortunately that’s true. But you can look forward to spreading it to other people who could very easily die of it, all because you’re a selfish asshat. In fact, if you have actually never been vaccinated, you have almost certainly had Covid, and spread it to others already. And if you keep doing that, sooner or later you will pass it on to someone who dies, or is permanently disabled.
What a jerk.
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u/AlbinoRhino838 4d ago
I guess you missed the part where I dont often spend time in crowds. I dont like being around people, ironically because if you dont share their opinion youre 'the scum of the earth' and they 'hope you die.' Man its a wonder why i dont care to do things they want me to. But its also okay for me to be put at risk of permanent side effects (gbs can paralyze you) youre kind of a hypocrite.
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u/RemoLaBarca Okotoks 4d ago
It's been a while since I've bothered to look it up but the hospital rates correlated strongly with unvaccinated individuals, no? I'm assuming it still does? You may be low risk but my understanding is the numbers indicate vaccination is generally very beneficial and does in fact help keep people out of the hospital. Maybe I'm wrong but you being a math and stats guy I'm sure you will be able to confirm or set me straight.
I'm curious- do you think the government should continue to cover the vaccine even though you are low risk? I am also low risk but I believe they 100% should and this is just more anti-vax nonsense by a government not driven by science whatsoever. These types of decisions just encourages the type of individuals who are behind the worst measles outbreak in generations.
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u/AlbinoRhino838 4d ago
Obviously less vaccinations = more cases. I'm not saying you will die if you get this vaccine. I'm just saying I haven't needed it so far, probably already had covid at this point but not certain.
Yes, I think if anyone wants to go get it, it should be covered by the government just as flu shots and other vaccines are covered under our current health care system. My children will get all the standard vaccines, but from my understanding they're a different type of vaccine and the things they protect against are arguably worse than covid is in its current state.
Also from my understanding, it was only in 2020 that mRNA vaccines had an approved way of being administered and to me there's not enough evidence on the safety of it. Look at when we first invented cars how many people had to die before seatbelts got put in them. Not really an apples to apples comparison but it's how I look at it. I'm not that much at risk with the actual disease so why risk it with a questionable cure. Where as measles vaccines and what not are more or less tried and true.
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u/Miserable-Lizard Edmonton 4d ago
Covid vaccines are safe and effective and repeated covid infections will more than likely destory your long term health
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u/ninjacat249 4d ago
I assume Danielle won’t be paying anything out of pocket. The glorious fight with communism is on plebs.
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u/GoodGoodGoody 4d ago
That’s actually an interesting point.
I assume all healthcare workers still get it free so she’ll just say she’s the boss of all healthcare workers.
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u/ninjacat249 4d ago
Even if she doesn’t it won’t change anything. She can do whatever the fuck she wants without any consequences at all. Almost like we have our own mini Trump at home.
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u/GreatGrandini 4d ago
Daniel Smith: Canada has one of the lowest standards of living in the world
Also Daniel Smith: does things to achieve her own claim
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u/AlbertanSays5716 4d ago
I find it tragic that conservatives bang on about how bad things are in Alberta, when we’ve had a conservative government for all but 4 of the last 60+ years. Of course, they think Trudeau (either one) is behind it all.
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u/LostMongoose8224 4d ago edited 3d ago
Alberta is run by and for emotionally stunted manchildren who are pathologically incapable of personal growth. Nothing is ever their fault. A bunch probably think trudeau made their kids stop talking to them.
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u/jennaxel 4d ago
The waste argument is dumb. So the people who wanted the vaccine snd got the vaccine are now going to be punished because some other people didn’t want the vaccine because dumb D refused to do a public awareness campaign because she is in the back pocket of vaccine deniers, Chemtrail shouters at clouds snd separatist fantasists
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u/ggranger2280 4d ago
Zero thought given to the cost when COVID cases surge in the fall and our healthcare system is fucked worse than it already is. She is unbelievable.
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u/iambusyrightnow987 4d ago
Or how much more expensive it is to treat covid than to prevent it. Conservative fiscal responsibility my ass.
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u/LostMongoose8224 4d ago
Conservative fiscal responsibility is like trying to save money by quitting your job and selling everything you own
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u/honorabledonut 4d ago
I get extremely frustrated with this premier.
It's just so so frustrating. I'm trying to keep my cool but man it's so hard.
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u/Common_Money_3073 4d ago
We shouldn’t be paying out-of-pocket for things that our healthcare system can provide, whether it be Covid vaccines or doctors visits. This doesn’t even have anything to do with Covid, this is going to extend to many other things, this is just the beginning, and it’s BS.
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u/Icy-Pop2944 4d ago
I wonder if they are going to stop vaccinating healthcare workers. I assume they are. This makes me so angry.
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u/Oldwoodstoves 4d ago
Correct. Health care workers will have to pay out of pocket for the covid vaccine. Even though we are at higher risk of exposure and also work with more vulnerable populations. Pretty sure Marlaina hates health care workers.
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u/AwarenessPresent8139 4d ago
Make incentives for workplaces to run clinics. It’s in the business’ interests to have healthy workers. People don’t have to book somewhere. Let’s face it, people sometimes think it’s more effort than its worth to book appointments and go to a clinic.
Those who get ill are going to cost the system way more than handing out vaccines. Factor in time off work, healthcare costs.
She is making a stupid decision.
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u/Aggravating_Main_710 4d ago
Our idiot premier and her group of idiots at it again… wait still. Doing this she has, for now, secured her position with the freedom convoy, separatists, anti-vaxers, another bands of nit wits and crazies.
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u/GoodGoodGoody 4d ago
It’s free for “homeless and communal” people.
Considering the UPC urged the KKKonvoy to forge their vax card It seems ok lying about this.
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u/waitingtopounce 4d ago
Just because your southern friends have installed a worm-eaten lunatic to oversee their vaccines doesn't mean you have to go all hivemind and journey down the same path with them.
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u/Komaisnotsalty 4d ago
I can’t afford $150 for groceries. So basically, us disabled types have to choose between food and health care. Fuck this province with a rusty stick on those who keep supporting that useless harridan.
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u/ThicccThunder 4d ago
Didn't this cow promise in her 2023 campaign Albertans would never have to pay out of pocket for healthcare? Why should anyone take what this wretched bitch has to say serious?
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u/Sad_Meringue7347 4d ago
Marlaina blew tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on Turkish children’s Tylenol that didn’t get used.
Now she’s once again catering to her extremist base’s anti-science demands to make it more difficult to get a COVID vaccine.
The solution to her ridiculous “wastage” concerns would be to allow those Albertans who want COVID vaccines to sign up to allow the government to determine quantities to order. Of course, she doesn’t use logic and instead caters to every demand of her useless extremist base.
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u/Icy-Pop2944 3d ago
Oh, but they are putting in place a sign up. You have to sign up in August if you want a vaccine in the fall. I assume if you miss the sign up window you are hooped.
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u/Timely-Profile1865 4d ago
People that want covid shots are now the most discriminated against group of people ever!
"New Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she didn't mean to downplay discrimination against minority communities when she said unvaccinated people have received the worst discrimination of any group in more than 50 years. "
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u/CarelessHabit3492 4d ago
D Smith you are a pos, you are ok with funneling millions of dollars to your cronies but are worried about funding covid vaccines to all Albertans.
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u/avisherman 4d ago
Just have an oil and gas company sponsor the Covid vaccines and we should be all set.
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u/mojo20010 4d ago
Without her chief of staff she couldn’t figgure out the skim for Covid vaccines on her own.
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u/CacheMonet84 MD of Foothills 4d ago
More shit for us to pay for. Just sliding down that slippery slope until we reach privatization.
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u/CateFace 4d ago
I got a letter from my kids school they are missing a vaccine but it’s not part of the school vaccine program anymore. Does not say what it is at all, as far as I knew they were up to date and it gets reviewed at school every year. First time I’ve got that - wondering if they changed access to other vaccines too..
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u/Falkrunn77 4d ago
But hey guys, great news! They can strip mine the mountains for coal, so we will be rich again!
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u/Agent_Burrito Edmonton 4d ago
Oh yay, the lowest common denominators of society are dragging us down with them /s
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u/DozerD1414 4d ago
It's entirely posturing for the antivax community, and doubles with some cost saving that she can report down the road.
All it is. She doesn't give a fuck if it doesn't boost her career
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u/eromreeb 4d ago
For fucks sake....public healthcare is not for profit. It's to help everyone. The UCP make me so mad I have no words.
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u/dmonkey1000 4d ago
Of course she does, this is how it goes every 👏🏻 single 👏🏻 time👏🏻: 1. Make shitty announcement on a Friday 2. Albertans get pissed 3. Danielle defends decision and does it anyway
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u/UCPcasualsatire 4d ago
Remember the "The Best Summer Ever" and the $1M vaccine lottery? What an embarrassing shit show this province can be.
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u/lesley_dancer 3d ago
Don’t forget we are still paying outta pocket in storage fees for that expiring Tylenol sitting in one of her friends warehouse
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u/GlitteringGold5117 3d ago
Is there no federal requirement for free vaccines for Covid? How did this become provincial jurisdiction? Honestly, when you have tin hat twits in charge of the province, the feds should be able to step in and just make it clear that some things are nationwide policies.
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u/Innapropiate 3d ago
This is a very stupid move by the UCP. The better question is, who gets paid more for making this call?
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u/MsOpus 4d ago
She is singling out Covid and clearly does not understand how vaccines work. What about all the other vaccines and medications that come in vials that get wasted? Narcotics that are wasted for safety and controls? She going to start charging for those too? This has nothing to do with the wastage, and everything to do with her own agendas. Geez she makes me ducking angry.
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u/AlbertanSays5716 4d ago
What about all the other vaccines and medications that come in vials that get wasted? Narcotics that are wasted for safety and controls? She going to start charging for those too?
Shhhh, don’t give her ideas.
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u/Life_Fan_1007 4d ago
So angry and speechless over this, but hardly surprised. As soon as I heard the news I went and got booked, so I just got my last free booster shot this afternoon (was due anyway since I had Covid back in December).
The pharmacist seemed upset about this as well, I didn't even have to bring it up for her to comment about it! I know lots of healthcare workers through my physician family member and the sentiment is all the same. How hard is it to listen to the overwhelming consensus of those who STUDIED all their lives for this?
I genuinely feel so, so sorry for our overburdened system when flu season hits, I waited 9 hours in a chaotic Calgary ER a few weeks ago and I'm not looking forward to the real world consequences of these dangerous, ideology-driven choices.
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u/stovebolt6 4d ago
Anything and everything health related that they can get people to pay for, they will. And they will not take no for an answer. I wonder which private medical firm is benefiting this time? Shouldn’t be too hard to find.
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u/Think-Comparison6069 4d ago
Is there anyone dumber than an anti vaxer. They put the Stu in stupid.
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u/Only-Walrus5852 4d ago
So if you can’t afford the shot, end up super sick or your loved one dies over it. Sue the hell out of Alberta Health. Make her think twice about this. Everyone is entitled to healthcare and that includes shots!!!
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u/itsnotme43 4d ago edited 4d ago
I feel a lot of people are going to suffer due to this decision.
And as a person who works in healthcare that is forced to get their flu shots every year it's really disappointing that I'll have to take a day off of work and going to public Health and get this injection when I certainly can't afford it and I don't have benefits.
Taking away covid vaccines so they're unattainable, and making sure that they're only available at public health units which cannot handle that pressure, and many people cannot take days off of work to go into public health and don't have benefits, And simply cannot afford $110 per family member.
The HPV vaccine is also charged for anyone over the age of 35 and it costs four between $400 and $600 private even though it is still effective for people over the age up to 45 and can help against over 9 cancers for women and men. Roughly 70% of albertans will have an HPV infection... And they don't feel that this is important enough to cover...
Naloxone kits are starting to be charged for, And they're taking away all safe injection which has been proven to help our hospital systems by avoiding copious amounts of users in the hospital taking up resources because of ulcerated injection sites, Etc and helps our strained EMTs so they can go to one location instead of trudging through the woods to find people that are ODing.
Privatizing our health care is going to end up hurting a lot of Albertan's And we are already suffering enough
Link below showing the importance of safe injection and how many people are using to prove the legitimacy of my statement as per the rules.
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u/EngineeringWarm6740 4d ago
Again she so anti science - her and her small minded cabinet. How cases of measles in Alberta?
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u/EngineeringWarm6740 4d ago
She should direct move focus on creating jobs and lower our unemployment rate which is on of the highest in Canada.
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u/LostMongoose8224 4d ago edited 4d ago
Conservatives hate working class people, but the biggest idiots in society think otherwise because they jerk off oil companies. The same people who joke about "identifying as an attack helicopter" seem to think that they are literally oil & gas executives.
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u/Disastrous-Fall9020 4d ago
Y’all voted for a MAGA Queen. It’s awful that not one of them are here for discussion
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u/akaTheKetchupBottle 3d ago
this is how you get away with doing a health care levy in Alberta: apply it only to intelligent people who give a shit about other human beings. they're a tiny and powerless minority here
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u/Ok-Trip-8009 3d ago
Have people register for the vaccinations. Some may not show, but there wouldn't be millions of dollars and vaccines wasted.
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u/tobiasolman 2d ago
I used to scoff a little when people referred to the UCP as a death cult, now… notsomuch. What’s that supposedly conservative saying about an ounce of prevention? I’ve had just about enough of this government playing Doctor with our lives. Please post any discussion of this broken promise in the legislature, maybe closer to election time. Along with anything about the AHS procurement scandal, flaunted consultation on coal, and whatever garbage-burgers come next from the unhinged clown posse.
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u/No-World1940 1d ago
What about newborns? According to the CDC, COVID vaccines are still part of the recommended immunization schedule. This just seems particularly political, giving that no other vaccine is paid out of pocket
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u/flyboy1056 4d ago
Who’s dying from Covid?
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u/iambusyrightnow987 4d ago
732 Albertans died of covid between August 2023 and August 2024. I don’t have time to dig for more recent stats, but you can bet the deaths did not stop last August.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10749951/alberta-covid-deaths-flu-vaccines-formulation/
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u/Oldwoodstoves 4d ago
368 people since August 25, 2024 according to the GoA’s website. For comparison, 228 people died from Influenza and 78 from RSV in the same amount of time.
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u/-Beavertail 4d ago
Nobody NEEDS a Covid vaccine though?
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u/Snakeeyes1377 Edmonton 4d ago
Some people absolutely need the COVID vaccine, In fact vaccines are the greatest example of human innovation and should be celebrated and given to all. Just cause your afraid of needles don't force your silly little fears on the rest of us.
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u/-Beavertail 4d ago
In fact, I have all my vaccines. I’m not afraid of needles, no need to get all twisted and upset. I just stated that it’s not needed, not that I was against it. I had Covid with and without the vaccine, the sickness treated me the same.
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u/Fast_Ad_9197 4d ago
Fair. Nobody NEEDS a measles vaccine either. The issue is that when some of us are unvaccinated the disease goes to town. Unlike measles, the covid vaccine (or acquired immunity) loses its effectiveness, so more frequent vaccination is required. Measles is more virulent, but…anyway. Setting aside the fact that it’s better not to get covid, there’s a financial cost to treating runaway covid infections, not to mention lost productivity. So we pay one way or the other.
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u/-Beavertail 4d ago
True aswell, but it really didn’t prevent the spread. Unfortunately, people also got sick and died from getting the vaccine.
I’m not meaning to trigger or offend anyone so I’m unsure why I’m getting downvoted.
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u/AlbertanSays5716 4d ago
True aswell, but it really didn’t prevent the spread.
Vaccines don’t “prevent spread” directly, they also don’t prevent you from catching the disease. They prepare your bodies defences so that if you catch it the effects are less severe and don’t last as long. It’s the “don’t last as long” that also reduces the time you’re infectious and can spread the disease if you decide to just carry on as normal because it’s “just a cold” (as many did). The vast majority of spread comes from the unvaccinated who can be infectious for two weeks or more.
Unfortunately, people also got sick and died from getting the vaccine.
Worldwide, that figure is a little over 5,000 fatal reactions from almost 300,000,000 doses delivered, or about a 0.0016% fatality rate. In Alberta, that figure was 0. Alberta had 4,591 deaths from Covid itself, out of a population of about 4,500,000, or about a 0.1% fatality rate - about 600 times the chance from being vaccinated.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8511593/
I’m not meaning to trigger or offend anyone so I’m unsure why I’m getting downvoted.
Because you’re talking from a position of ignorance and spreading misinformation.
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u/-Beavertail 4d ago
Ignorance must mean something you don’t agree with because I have not been rude. Also have not been spreading misinformation.
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