Davin News Server

- "...COVID-19 vaccines be halted"
- "protect 'public discussion of alternative medical treatments'"
- "value of drugs such as ivermectin..."

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Alberta task force recommends halt of COVID-19 vaccines in new report

The task force took aim at vaccines, which Alberta and other Canadian 
jurisdictions required in order to access public gatherings and businesses 
during the pandemic.Mary Conlon/The Associated Press

An Alberta government task force has recommended that the use of COVID-19 
vaccines be halted unless more information is provided about risk, in a 
report rife with suggestions that run counter to mainstream scientific 
consensus.

The $2-million task force’s final report, released Friday, touched on 
several points common with disinformation campaigns such as the 
effectiveness of public health restrictions and masking, while also 
recommending some government authority over media.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, in the fall of 2022, directed the 
government’s then-health minister to strike a panel to review pandemic data 
and provide recommendations. The Globe and Mail, in April, first revealed 
details about the task force, which was led by Gary Davidson, a physician 
who claimed the province manipulated statistics to introduce restrictions 
and exaggerated pressure on hospitals during the height of the pandemic.

The task force’s composition and report reflect Ms. Smith’s skepticism 
toward how governments around the world responded to the pandemic. The 
final report, for example, revealed that Jay Bhattacharya was among its 13 
panelists. U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Bhattacharya to run 
the National Institutes of Health. In 2020, Dr. Bhattacharya co-authored 
the Great Barrington Declaration, which argued against public-health 
measures such as lockdowns.

The 269-page report is a sweeping criticism of the government’s response 
and defence of contrarian arguments, such as the value of drugs such as 
ivermectin, which scientists determined were ineffective in warding off and 
treating COVID-19.

The task force took aim at vaccines, which Alberta and other Canadian 
jurisdictions required in order to access public gatherings and businesses. 
Alberta launched a vaccine passport system in September, 2021, and while it 
ended in early 2022, physicians still recommend booster shots.

The task force “recommends halting the use of COVID-19 vaccines without 
full disclosure of their potential risks, ending their use in healthy 
children and teenagers, conducting further research into their 
effectiveness, establishing support for vaccine-injured individuals, and 
providing an opt-out mechanism from federal public health policy,” the 
report said.

Ms. Smith, prior to becoming premier, railed against Alberta’s management 
of the pandemic, particularly vaccine mandates and restrictions on 
gatherings. She promoted drugs, such as the antiparasitic drug ivermectin, 
and also travelled to the United States to receive Janssen’s single-dose 
shot because she was skeptical of mRNA vaccines.

The task force concluded federal and provincial health authorities took a 
“restrictive approach” to certain drugs including ivermectin and 
hydroxychloroquine, which is used to treat malaria.

Both drugs gained popularity in right-wing and anti-vaccination circles as 
COVID-19 remedies, although the medical community insists there is no 
evidence supporting their effectiveness against the coronavirus.

The panel said Alberta should protect “public discussion of alternative 
medical treatments” under the provincial Human Rights Act and advised the 
government to prevent regulatory bodies from using “professionalism or 
codes of conduct” to obstruct the use of approved medications for off-label 
use.

It also recommended halting disciplinary action against health care workers 
for promoting or using these medications.

The task force took aim at both Alberta Health Services and the health 
ministry on its collection of data to inform the need for booster shots. 
The group stated that there is no “quality data” that supports the idea 
that vaccines provide better protection from severe disease than natural 
exposure to circulating variants. Ultimately, it was recommended that 
public health information “avoid ideological bias geared toward maximizing 
vaccine coverage.”

When it came to testing for COVID-19, the review concluded that there were 
conflicting studies and methods utilized during the height of the pandemic, 
which resulted in “inconsistent determinations regarding the actual 
infection rate in Alberta” and consequently informed policy decisions.

”We recommend that future pandemic responses prioritize minimizing severe 
disease and mortality over extensive case detection. Specifically, Alberta 
should focus on developing a screening tool to help estimate individual 
risk,” the report stated.

The panel also suggested that the media is politically or financially 
compensated by public health or pharmaceutical contracts and said the 
government should require the press to publicly disclosure any 
affiliations.

“When reporting on health-related matters, require media to cite levels of 
supporting evidence and publicly disclose any political or financial 
competing interests that may influence their reporting, including publicly 
disclosing the dollar value and conditions of their public health and 
pharmaceutical contracts,” the report said.

Ms. Smith previously said she appointed Mr. Davidson as head the task force 
because of his “contrarian perspective.” She defended the task force last 
April and said it was created to investigate unexplained deaths and rumours 
on social media about vaccine harms.

Medical professionals in Alberta were skeptical of the task force and the 
final report said the panelists’ search for answers “was hindered by 
informational barriers, including reluctance of key stakeholders to 
acknowledge and engage with our mandate.”

Jessi Rampton, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, said in 
a statement the government is still reviewing the report and that no policy 
decisions have been made at this time.

“Their recommendations offer a perspective on how the government can be 
better positioned to protect the health and safety of Albertans in the 
future.”

The government has been reviewing the report since August, when it received 
it.


https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-releases-secret-
report-into-the-provinces-covid-response/