Winnipeg doctor calls for more transparency in COVID-19 vaccine rollout

We're almost a full year into this pandemic.

We knew much would depend on our readiness to deliver the vaccine when it was available. So why has it been such a struggle for us to find out who is actually in charge of our provincial vaccination efforts and how ready we actually are to deploy?

One day of information sharing doesn't make up for 11 months of opacity when it comes to earning the public's trust.

And please don't placate me with the names of our medical officers of health. We know who they are; they've been more than accessible. But they aren't calling the shots across most of the country when it comes to the most important shot — our precious vaccine rollouts.

It's the people behind the scenes I want to know more about; the ones who are really shaping the response to the most important crisis of our lifetimes. Is that really so unreasonable? 

There are no pilots in the cockpit- Dr. Jillian Horton

Imagine that you're on a plane. You need to get somewhere urgently; your life depends on it. As you take your seat, you look around. There are a couple of pilots up front, but they're not in the cockpit.

You see a man in a business suit with an instruction manual, accompanied by several of his friends. Those men file into the empty cockpit and close the door. The plane pulls away from the gate.

There are no pilots in the cockpit. 

You push the call button, and when the flight attendant comes to your seat, you ask, "Who's flying the plane?"

She says, "We don't announce that." 

Well, you've been on many planes before and actually yes, they always announce that. You ask why she can't just tell you and the rest of the passengers who is flying the plane, but she's already walked away. 

If we're all in this together, it cannot be on the basis of blind faith.- Dr. Jillian Horton

You ring your call bell again. You ask why the pilots aren't up front, flying the plane.

The flight attendant assures you that their input and expertise are being sought, along with the input and expertise of a lot of other people.

She reminds you that there is more to flying a plane than actually flying a plane, and even though pilots know how to fly planes, they aren't engineers, they aren't air traffic controllers, they aren't mechanics, they aren't airport developers, they aren't business people, and they've never had to balance the complex needs or competing interests of all the passengers on the plane.

You ask where the plane is going. She says she can't tell you that information either.

You're upset now. You are raising your voice.

You tell the flight attendant that your life and many other people's lives depend on arriving safely at your destination, and you just want to know that the people who are in charge of your safety have the skills required to fly the plane.

The other passengers start shouting from the back that they agree with you. They want to know who is flying the plane. They're worried that the usual safety checks appear to have been abandoned, but the flight attendant just yells at them to stay seated because everyone is in this plane together.

Put yourself on this plane. Actually, you don't need to do that, because you're already on this plane. So am I. So is everyone you love.

It takes a village

People are fond of saying it takes a village to do certain things. Indeed, it does. And yet, here's a fundamental truth about the villagers: if they need to go somewhere in a plane, and one of them isn't a pilot, none of them are flying anywhere.

I worry that in many provinces right now, we have no idea who's getting appointed to sit at the most important tables, or what they are really in charge of. 

If we're truly in good shape, then there's a simple fix for this: Transparency. 

If we're all in this together, it cannot be on the basis of blind faith. Why? Because it is simply too difficult to distinguish from flying blind.

This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ.

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