By

September 13, 2021

-Western Standard

 

There’s no proof vaccine passports work, says Canada’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Theresa Tam.

In fact, the Public Health Agency of Canada hasn’t even studied the effect such passports would have on immunization rates, says Blacklock’s Reporter.

“It’s something we should pay close attention to and study,” said Tam.

“That also helps other jurisdictions should they want to make these kinds of decisions.”

Four provinces to date – British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Québec – have issued orders requiring proof of vaccination to access non-essential public services like restaurants and hockey arenas.

Tam said 7.3 million Canadians are not yet fully vaccinated, including five million who have declined the first inoculation.

An average of 69% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated in the four provinces with vaccine passports with vaccination rates in provinces without mandates average 67%.

“In your opinion do vaccine mandates or vaccine passports have any kind of impact on boosting vaccination rates?” asked a reporter.

“We are watching carefully,” replied Tam.

“We don’t have good evaluation or statistics except that provinces individually have said, I think in the media, that they saw an increase in uptake.”

“Is there data indicating what does work?” asked a reporter.

“Some of it is just trust-building, getting influencers, youth influencers, people who can get to social media, TikTok in particular,” replied Tam.

Local health authorities should consider operating mobile clinics through workplaces, she said.

“What I’m interested in is an actual study of course of the full range of approaches,” said Tam.

“But the question prior to that, which is: do locally implemented requirements for vaccines to access non-essential services, for example, work? That remains to be seen.”

The Liberal Party in its September 1 campaign platform advocated an Act of Parliament “to ensure every business and organization that decides to require proof of vaccination from employees and customers can do so without fear of a legal challenge.”

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