Cue the vaccine queue jumpers

National Post, 26 February 2021

Our reverence for our health-care system means we are reluctant to admit it, but in any system where long waits are the norm, there will be queue jumping.

Cue the queue jumping, now that Ontario has released its leisurely vaccination schedule. Once people discover how long they will have to wait, some may choose not to.

In Florida, where many Ontario seniors spend their winters, vaccines for those over 65 years of age were available on Christmas Eve. Many of them have already been vaccinated, as they are eligible if they are Florida residents — i.e., they have a mortgage there, a rental lease or pay utility bills. That’s mostly due to the Trump’s administration’s Operation Warp Speed.

Ontario snowbirds who stayed home as per the government’s advice will be subject to Operation Gentle Stroll instead. About three weeks from now, octogenarians will be eligible to get their shots. Then those over 75 on April 15, followed by the over-70s on May 1 and those 65 and older on June 1. It won’t be until July that 60-year-olds will qualify.

Gen. Rick Hillier, Ontario’s point man on vaccines, also says that the province is unlikely to complete vaccinations by the federal government’s September deadline. It’s possible that things might go faster if Ontario hijacks vaccination shipments destined for Somalia or, more likely, Florida sends its surplus doses north when it wraps everything up.

Saskatchewan is already in Phase 1 of its plan, which includes those 70 or over. Phase 2 begins in April, when sexagenarians will be eligible — three months ahead of Ontario. Forget snowbirds, those Ontarians who winter in Moose Jaw are in luck!

Continue reading at the National Post.