I knew that Cons have larger amygdalas or fear glands than most, but the way Doug Ford and Erin O'Toole have been reacting to a small hitch in our Pfizer vaccine rollout is truly disturbing.
I realize that we all want to be vaccinated as soon as possible, but the way those two Cons have been behaving is yet another example of why Cons are unfit to govern this country.
And it's making all Canadians look bad.
For this is outrageous...
Doug Ford threatening the CEO of Pfizer as only that Con clown could.
“I’m just angry at the situation that other countries are getting it,” Ford told a news conference at Queen’s Park, encouraging Trudeau to get the attention of Pfizer’s chief executive.
“I’d be up that guy’s ying-yang so far with a firecracker he wouldn’t know what hit him,” the premier added.
And if that's embarrassing, this is even more pathetic.
Premier Doug Ford offered to drive an ultra-cold refrigerated truck to Kalamazoo, Mich. in an effort to secure thousands of doses of the Pfizer vaccine for Ontario – an offer that the premier said was turned down by the drug manufacturer.
And makes me wonder whether Ford is cracking up.
Or is just being Duggo...
But of course Ford is also trying to divert attention from his murderous incompetence, by playing cheap politics.
Just like that other Con clown Erin O'Toole, who would have us believe that he wants Team Canada to succeed.
Securing Canada’s future is my top priority.
— Erin O'Toole (@erinotoole) January 21, 2021
Canada’s Conservatives want the government to succeed in getting the vaccines we need – for the sake of every Canadian. pic.twitter.com/hPCNqueZCO
When in fact everybody knows he wants it to fail, so he can blame Justin Trudeau, and distract attention from all the far right extremists in his ghastly Trump Party.
Even though, as Gary Mason points out, all that contrived outrage, is not just misguided.
I understand that people are tired of being cooped up. I understand that businesses are bleeding money – if they haven’t already been forced to close up shop – and need things to return to normal as soon as possible. But this delay from Pfizer will not materially change the overall vaccination timetable that the Prime Minister set out weeks ago.
Canada still expects a combined six million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine by the end of March, the same numbers and timeline as before. The government still expects that all Canadians who want to be vaccinated will be able to be no later than the end of September, the same as before.
It's incredibly greedy.
15 comments:
They're also completely ignorant of how vaccines are produced. I worked in Pharma so I have some idea of how they are produced.
Vaccines are the toughest to produce with the highest standards for drugs because you can't undo the damage if they go wrong. Pfizer was too optimistic as to how things go, but anyone with manufacturing experience knows it isn't easy ramping up to billions of dosages for the entire world. You can't just produce the tooling/processes at the drop of a hat.
Also these vaccine shortages are EVERYWHERE not just Canada. We can act self centered and scream and pout, but it is not going to change things.
Trudeau should have a National Vaccine Program, then he could be responsible.
Ford sounds deranged. What portion of the populace is he trying to appeal to? Beyond juvenile and unworthy of his position. Even for a con.
The COVID pandemic is the defining issue of the day. It will remain so for the foreseeable future. Donald Trump's dismal handling of it contributed to bringing him down.
Those politicians in charge in Canada are trying their best to prevent the same fate from happening to them. The problem for Mr. Ford is he has screwed up the Ontario government's response and people are beginning to come around to that fact. So he wants to be seen to be doing whatever it takes to bring the virus under control in Ontario without actually doing whatever it takes. The Pfizer delay provides him with that. He can bluster and bloviate and hope that distracts people from the fact that he failed to make the tough decisions back in September that might have prevented or at least reduced the second wave. It is remarkable. He chose businesses over people but then was forced to shut the province down anyway because of the number of cases skyrocketing thus making it even worse for businesses than it would have been if he would have taken more effective measures to lower case counts in the Fall. His approach failed on so many levels and he is desperate to prevent Ontarian from figuring that out.
For Mr. O'Toole and the other Opposition leaders they would love to be able to point out any errors by the Trudeau government in its handling of the pandemic. The problem is the Federal government has not made any serious errors since this whole thing started. From both the public health and economic perspectives the Federal government has been effective and they have been perceived as competent in addressing the pandemic. So the Opposition have nothing to hang their hats on, which is why the are desperately grasping at the Pfizer delay and hyping up the problems with the GG as much as they are. They desperately want to pin something on the government but the government has not given them anything with which they can do so. It is significant that the only real hiccup for the Federal government is the result of something beyond its control, namely, decisions by a large multinational drug company. Otherwise, if it has been within their control they have generally made the right decisions and Canadians are noticing that and that is driving all of the Opposition Parties to distraction.
Marieke has some brand new details on other vaccines in the approval queue, and all signs point to Canada still being on track for full vaccination by September. Looks like O'Stool is going to have to come up with some actual cogent policies, and not just pin all his hopes on royal-watcher gossip about Payette and Pfizer extorting the government up da wazoo.
Or, Eric can continue filming cell phone commercials and hope that his next job after he gets turfed next election is a spokesman for Telus. I hear Jason knows a few folks in the front office. By the way, speaking of dropped calls, did anyone happen to pick up the signal that Eric is still sending to the Paul Fromm constituency? That ad about calling up Pfizer to order vaccines like a takeout dinner from Grub Hub is called -- yup -- Securing Canada's Future...
I hate the selective ignorance of the right-wing Canadian news media. It's not just Canada having problems and it's not just with Pfizer.
Astra Zeneca cuts deliveries to E.U. by sixty percent due to production problems at its factory in Belgium (yes, Belgium again).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/22/covid-oxfordastrazeneca-vaccine-delivery-to-eu-to-be-cut-by-60
Thread by Harvard epidemiologist, Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding: Pfizer USA is futzing around with their dosage recommendations to try and squeeze out more cost. This is due to heavy lobbying of Trump's FDA.
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1352759138103779328
Israel's "best in the world" vaccination rate came at a high price: Allowing the company to mine medical data from patients. Your privacy or your life, that's the Netanyahu way. And they're leaving the poor Palestinians to rot.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/israel-trades-pfizer-vaccine-doses-for-medical-data
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/middleeast/israelis-palestinians-vaccination-intl/index.html
And then as I mentioned, the Globe is reporting that Pfizer is aiming to extort Canada for a favorable tax break. They don't want to address the pandemic of inequality. They want to sell product and get rich. Fuck them. Jonas Salk made the polio vax available for free.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-pfizer-pushes-for-tax-breaks-in-2021-federal-budget
There is a Twitter user tweeting out these reports frantically, and he got trolled by Andrew Coyne for debunking his doom narrative. Man, that guy really needs family therapy to get over his animosity towards his cousin. Cons need more than a COVID test. They need treatment for an allergy to facts.
It must be because of their darling Trump finally flying off in infamy that has caused our Cons to finally lose their minds. Whether it's Premier Bozo Ford threatening explosive proctology on Pfizer's CEO or going up someone's wazoo via Kalamazoo, you simply can't make this shit up, so to speak. The tool's bizarro videos of wanting the government to succeed while saying they're failing are lacking any proof of such and are purely partisan political bullshit. They have been utterly useless during these desperate times and are becoming more of a hindrance and liability by the day as they ramp up their goofy theatrics.
I feel sorry for JT as I expect he has apologized to Pfizer and Biden on behalf of the misbehaving Con children who have been harassing them. These ying-yangs are clearly out of their league and are an embarrassment to all Canadians. In spite of that, we can still thank our lucky stars that we have adults running the show in Ottawa. And we can thank the ying-yangs for providing ample proof as to why they should never be entrusted to run a province or country ever again.
JD
Hi Dan...You're absolutely right. I have been disgusted by the Cons and others who are trying to make the Pfizer vaccine temporary interruption into a big deal. There are vaccine shortages everywhere, and I heard Dr Fauci say the other day that Canada and the U.S. will complete their vaccinations at roughly the same time. So the Cons should just cool their jets and focus on doing everything they can to encourage Canadians to flatten the curve...
Hi Steve....We can't do anything about our federal system, our country is just too big to centralize everything. But although some are frustrated that we can't vaccinate everyone by next week, we are on track to do the job, and the nervous nellies should chill out...
Hi anon@5:06 PM....I think Ford is showing signs of unravelling. He knows that history will judge him harshly, and he is trying to deflect the blame on to others. He's another one who needs to calm down and focus on what we have to do to flatten the curve...
Hi Ottlib...I completely agree with you. For made some very serious mistakes that allowed the virus to surge, and now he's trying to distract people by going after Pfizer, as well as blaming the Trudeau government. And O'Toole and his Trump Party losers are trying to play the same game, which is also unforgivable. The last thing we need is to create even more anxiety. Like you I believe that most Canadians understand the situation, and will make those who play cheap political games pay a heavy price...
Hi Jackie....I feel the same way about the Cons and their stooge media. I realize that Trudeau lives in their heads, and that they will do anything to try to destroy him, but playing cheap political games in the middle of a pandemic is as low as you can go. When I see that, and I see how hard our exhausted front line heroes are working it makes me so angry. As for Andrew Coyne I wish I had seen his foaming diatribe sooner so I could include it in this post. But the ghastly Trudeau hater the Disaffected Lib has written a post echoing Coyne's nonsense, so I might have to write a post letting them both know how I feel about them...
Hi JD....I agree, I think the Cons were hoping that Trump would win the election, and were devastated when he lost. So now they are looking for anything to use against Trudeau, and of course trying to distract people from the far right extremist scandal that is threatening to divide them. It's absolutely pathetic and the way they have been behaving is embarrassing us all. Those filthy Cons have no shame, and I'm pretty confident Canadians will make them pay for what they are doing...
Proud Boys Proud Boys
whatca going do
whatch gong to do
when they come for you
Thanks for the link to Marieke Walsh Jackie; I don't pay much attention to the Groat and Flail.
The chart showing distribution and usage is interesting. Overall , Canada has distributed ~905,000 vaccines and ~687,000 ( 76% ) have been used . We are a month into vaccinations, so Canada has a week's supply on hand with Moderna delivering more this week. Nobody is out anywhere.
Ontario, where the squealing is the loudest , has received ~ 277,000 doses and used 238,000. Ontario has 39,000 vaccines they have been unable to utilize. They have averaged 8,000 vaccinations a day so they have enough supply for 5 days. A Moderna shipment this week will extend Ontario's supply into February.
Weepoing and wailing by the right wing media hardly seem appropriate; they know these facts and ignore them to please their political masters. Doug Ford has been told by his staff but it's get Trudeau time in Toronto.
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