Alberta’s new Health Minister, Jason Copping, has released a statement pushing back against concerned health-care workers’ claims that the vaccine has low efficacy and could be dangerous.
In response to an open letter to the Alberta Health Service (AHS) from Health Professionals United, which 3,544 Alberta health-care workers signed, Copping says he is concerned that the letter may dissuade the roughly 630,000 Albertans who are reluctant to take the vaccine.
https://twitter.com/JasonCoppingAB/status/1443313992001273866
While Copping says that he respects any disputes between employers and employees, which he says this letter represents, he adds that “the claims in the letter are misleading or incorrect” — even though some of the statistics the letter brings up comes straight from the AHS.
“[The message this letter sends] is a serious concern, because the claims in the letter are misleading or incorrect,” states Copping. “So I want to speak directly to Albertans who are still considering whether to get vaccinated: I urge you to make your decision based on better information than this letter.”
“Or better yet, talk to your own family doctor, nurse practitioner, pharmacist or other health-care professionals.”
Moreover, the health-care workers say that they have done their own research and have “decisively conclude[d] that [they] are in strong opposition to mandatory vaccination.”
Beyond the AHS’s data, the letter includes data from the UK, Israel, the American CDC, and VAERS.
Copping spends the bulk of his response trying to invalidate data provided by the health-care workers, and many of his points are worth considering.
Indeed, both sides of the argument provide important data which both the vaccinated and unvaccinated should consider, but it is not clear who is right or wrong. Both sides admit that there is not enough data to know the long-term effects of the vaccine.
With that said, the health-care workers are adamant in their position against the mandate, going so far as suggesting that mass health-care shortages could be incurred if the government does not stop it.
“As of Nov 1, 2021, or earlier, AHS’s decision to implement such a mandate will prevent many dedicated health care workers and other AHS staff from performing the jobs they have done valiantly over the past eighteen months,” the letter reads.
“This will put our currently severely strained health care system under further undue and needless pressure and put more Albertans at risk due to our inability to provide care for our patients. We respectfully request that the vaccine mandate be rescinded immediately so that AHS Health care workers can continue to provide care for Albertans.”
Copping fails to address this in his response, but he should.
If Alberta is, indeed, facing a crisis and is barely providing adequate care to those who are hospitalized, nothing could be more devastating than a walkout of nearly 4,000 health-care workers.
