LETTER

LETTRE

 Premier Legault May Be On to Something

 

A person's reasons for accepting or rejecting the COVID vaccine are complex and varied, not predicated on definitive political ideologies. Nevertheless, the pandemic has brought one political divide to the surface—whether individuals should be held responsible for their life choices.
    Left-leaning proponents believe many individuals aren't entirely responsible for their circumstances. They claim an individual's economic class at birth, race, and sex often limits their opportunities; thus, distribution of opportunity is unjust. The left's remedy is for the government to intervene and make "life's playing field" equitable for everyone.
    However, the left doesn't consider a person's ambition to overcome any "environmental" obstacles they face as being essential in determining their circumstances. Personal responsibility for your life choices is a conversation those on the left tend to avoid.
     Individuals on the right of the political spectrum believe a person is responsible for the consequences of their life choices. Right-wingers will tell you that anyone can take advantage of the many opportunities surrounding them if they make good life choices.
    Political affiliation aside, each of us should heed the words "Everyone is really responsible to all men for all men and everything." from Dostoyevsky's novel, The Brothers Karamazov, but pursuing our respective self-interest has a much greater appeal.
    When Quebec's premier proposed unvaccinated Quebecers pay a 'no-vax tax' I asked myself two questions:
Was this a political left or political right move?
Is Legault proposing a 'no-vax tax' as a punishment or to offset the burden the unvaccinated are supposedly putting on Quebec's health care system?
    What doesn’t sit well with me is that the assertion, the unvaccinated are placing a burden on the health care system, is not being quantified. According to mainstream media, unvaccinated people make up a disproportionate number of hospitalizations due to COVD while downplaying that many fully vaccinated are also hospitalized.
    Where's the comparison of the number of unvaxxed COVID hospital admissions against other medical treatments? For example, in 2021, what was the number of heart-related issues, most of which are preventable, Canadian hospitals had to treat versus the number of unvaccinated COVID patients hospitalized? Without statistical comparisons, anyone claiming the unvaccinated are burdening Canada's health care system is making a divisive assumption.
Nick Kossovan
Toronto, Ont.