Leaders Fuel Vaxx/Unvaxxed Divide, but They Are to Blame for Canada’s Inadequate Hospital Capacity

A health-care worker transports a patient at the Humber River Hospital in Toronto on Dec. 9, 2020. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

Commentary

A mid-January Maru Public Opinion poll finds that a significant number of Canadians favour sternly punitive measures for the unvaccinated. Of the poll’s online 1,506 panel, 33 percent were in favour of refusing driver licence renewals to those who refused a (likely forthcoming) mandatory vaccination, 37 percent found denial of access to “any publicly funded hospital/medical services” acceptable, and 27 percent would support a five-day jail sentence for “endangering others/overwhelming [the] healthcare system.”