OTTAWA (Reuters) The city of OTTAWA (Reuters) Canadians are angered by people who aren’t vaccination-free against COVID-19. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday and also announced that more than 100 million quick tests will be made available to provinces eagerly waiting.
Trudeau has mainly tried cajoling Canadians to get vaccinated and his comments reflect a growing impatience by different levels of government in trying to combat the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Most of Canada’s 10 provinces have imposed limits on gatherings and business activities as medical experts have warned that health systems could be swamped.
“When people see we’re in lockdowns, or have serious public health restrictions at the moment, because of the risk for all of us by people who are not vaccinated – they get angry,” Trudeau told a briefing, saying governments and health workers were frustrated.
When asked about comments made by Emmanuel Macron, the French President, Trudeau said that he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people.
Trudeau also said he would investigate footage of passengers taking selfies and drinking alcohol gathering on a December 30 Sunwing Airlines flight between Montreal and Mexico.
“I’m extremely frustrated … it’s a slap in the face to see people putting themselves in danger, putting their fellow citizens at risk and airline workers at risk because they are completely unresponsible,” the man said.
Official data show that as of December 18, 87.3% of people ages 12 and over had received two doses of vaccine. Only 1.3 percent of children from 5 to 12 were fully vaccinated.
Trudeau declared that there is no magic bullet to solve this, and emphasized the importance of vaccinations. “We’re going through this together. There are better days ahead.”
Jean-Yves Duclos, Health Minister said that Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos would announce that Ottawa will provide 140 million rapid tests to provinces by the end of January in addition to the 120 million already distributed. Local authorities are complaining about a shortage of tests.
Duclos claimed that 7 million booster shots were administered. Canada is home to 38 million people.
