We’re near the point in this vaccination campaign where we can get a close-up of those Canadians who belong to a sad subset of humanity: the freeloader.
With such people there’s always a handy excuse for not doing their fair share – they are types who feel the desperate need to use a pub's washroom each time it's their turn to buy the next round of drinks.
Those are the folks who let fellow Canadians roll up their collective sleeves for a COVID-fighting jab while they stand back, refusing to do the same.
Then, when enough of us have done our collective duty, they’ll happily share in the spoils. In this case, the upside won’t be another free beer on someone else’s tab, but a return to a life once deemed normal, before we were locked down, masked up, and pulled apart by this dreary pandemic.
Now, not everyone yet to be vaccinated should be dismissed in such a surly manner.
There are many here in Alberta, for example, who, because of work schedules and family commitments, have been unable to make it to an approved vaccination location. That’s why cities and towns across the province should be organizing pop-up clinics and extended hours for folks adrift in this boat.
Yes, that’s more work for less reward in terms of vaccination numbers, but if it moves the needle – excuse the pun – then that’s what needs to happen, especially in locations away from urban centres with few clinics or pharmacies.
Then there are those who are truly scared of being vaccinated. Perhaps it’s a cultural or religious thing or perhaps they're rattled by the fear-mongering headlines aided by social media chatter about some vaccine or other causing a nasty reaction.
Education might help – explaining that, with more than two billion vaccines injected worldwide, the number of people who have subsequently died as a result is so tiny we might as well be discussing global lightning strikes.
But a better way of making inroads into such reluctance is through peer pressure. When you watch friends, family, and work mates step forward, much of that fear dissipates – hand-holding of both the physical and the emotional sort works wonders.
Ah, and finally we arrive at the third group. It’s pointless to try and convince this lot to get the jab. They know better than the world’s leading gene sequencers or virologists and can surely point to some fellow somewhere on the Internet who has demonstrated this vaccination lark is actually some Bill Gates or George Soros plot aimed at global dominance.
Despite how effective vaccination is shown to be, it matters not a jot. Some people would go to their graves – quite literally – rather than ever admit they could be wrong.
Oh well, we’re going to get there anyhow, even without the freeloaders’ help. Yes, they’ll hitch a ride on our wagon, but hey, what else can we do?
Canada actually has less than its fair share of such folk. That’s why we are a country with near the highest proportion of citizens choosing vaccination: we’re sitting at 62 per cent of our entire population and counting.
It would be nice to announce we’re all in the same boat, of course, but sadly, there will always be those who would rather let others do the rowing.
