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Responding to delegations from a recent council meeting, Chatham-Kent’s acting medical officer of health has said he wants people to have correct information about COVID-19 vaccines.
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Dr. David Colby, speaking at the Chatham-Kent Board of Health meeting on Dec. 21, said several false allegations were made that needed to be addressed.
“We don’t have the freedom to mislead, in my opinion, and we don’t have the freedom to infect others. All of our actions in public health really kind of boil down to keeping everybody as safe and protected as we possibly can,” he said.
“It’s very, very difficult when people come up with factoids about alleged and theoretical dangers of vaccines based on a misunderstanding of molecular genetics, particularly if they happen to hold some type of professional designation.”
One of the allegations was that COVID-19 vaccines have not been tested properly. Colby said Health Canada’s “rigorous procedures” for testing drugs are recognized around the world for their high standards.
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“Approval decisions are based on scientific and medical evidence that vaccines are safe, effective and in good quality, and, most importantly, that the benefits must also outweigh any risks that are present,” he said.
Colby said every drug or vaccine has side effects. However, he said dismissing vaccines because of side effects “is the intellectual equivalent of reading a report that somebody has choked on a sandwich and concluding that eating is a hazardous undertaking and that nobody should do it.”
The COVID-19 vaccines got to market “relatively quickly” for several reasons, Colby said, including technological improvements and the higher number of COVID-19 cases compared to rarer diseases.
“The COVID vaccines had four to five times the usual numbers of subject studies that any other vaccines would get,” Colby said. “To cast doubt on the approval process of our entire country just because vaccines appeared relatively quickly, that’s just not keeping up with modern technology.”
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Another allegation was that people who are vaccinated are put at a higher risk of dying.
Colby cited a report from peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet which found 20 million deaths were prevented by vaccination in the first year COVID-19 vaccines were available.
He noted the study excluded one of the largest countries, China, so the number is probably “far greater” than 20 million people.
Colby said there were also statements that vaccines are not effective because of the need for booster shots, or revaccinations. He said the immune response to coronaviruses, including COVID-19, is short-lived.
“Even in a very healthy person with a robust immune response, the immunity starts to wane around four months after infection or after vaccination,” Colby said.
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“Until this pandemic is completely done, and it isn’t, we’re going to see revaccination every five or six months continue to be recommended.”
Other claims, such as the vaccine product monographs not being publicly available and the adverse effects of the vaccine being hidden, can be disproven by accessing the publicly available documents on the federal government’s website, Colby said.
“People who are trying to argue that vaccination is a bad idea sometimes lean on questionable facts and at some level somewhere people are actually making up facts,” Colby said.
“The planting of deliberate misinformation to either mislead people or to increase the number of mouse clicks and to make money is a real problem in today’s society.”
'We don't have the freedom to mislead': Colby addresses vaccine claims - Chatham-Kent This Week
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