How Sask. Premier Moe's messaging on unvaccinated people has shifted since the Delta wave
This week Moe focused on his perception that Saskatchewan is divided over vaccinations
If you listened to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's announcement on Tuesday that public health measures were being lifted, you may have noticed a pattern.
Moe announced the government's plan to end its proof-of-vaccination or negative test policy on Monday, roughly five months after it was put in. He also said his government would let its remaining health orders, including mandatory masking, expire at the end of the month.
Moe's opening speech and many answers were squarely focused on his perception that Saskatchewan is divided over vaccinations and pandemic public health policies, and that citizens must work to "heal" those differences.
Moe used the term "divisions" 16 times during the 75-minute news conference and added that proof of vaccination was a "divisive policy." He said we were living in a "divisive time."
He finished the news conference by repeating that it was time to "work together to heal some of the divisions."
Moe's statements that the province is divided were echoed by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney when he announced later Tuesday that his province would also be lifting measures.
The restrictions have divided families and friends, and inflamed tensions in communities and neighbourhoods, while livelihoods have been disrupted and destroyed, Kenney said.
"We have to begin to heal," Kenney said.
Both Kenney and Moe are aware that their provinces have the highest percentage of unvaccinated people, which has been the case since both introduced vaccination policies last fall.
In Saskatchewan, more than 899,829 people have two vaccinations. More than 86 per cent of adults have two doses. Roughly 79,000 eligible adults have yet to receive any vaccination.
Moe seemed to be signaling Tuesday that people in Saskatchewan who are vaccinated need to extend an olive branch to their unvaccinated friends or family.
"Let's not lose a friend due to this virus. Let's come together as a family. Let's not lose a family relationship, regardless of what conversations have occurred over the last number of months," Moe said.
The premier's messaging around unvaccinated people shifted from the fall to December.
When announcing the soon-to-be scrapped public health measures back on Sept. 16, Moe said the wave of the pandemic happening at that time was driven almost entirely by unvaccinated people.
"The vast majority of people have done their part," he said at the time.
He said new cases and hospitalizations were "overwhelmingly" in unvaccinated people.
"As a province and as a government, we have been very patient, possibly too patient," he said.
"The choice to get vaccinated is not just affecting you it is now seriously impacting those who did the right thing."
Following that announcement, while unvaccinated Saskatchewan patients were flown to Ontario to be cared for in ICU, the province's vaccination rates spiked.
Moe called for 'stigmatization' to end in Dec.
As the fourth wave was slowing in December, Moe struck a decidedly different tone.
Moe said the government was going to do everything it could to not "stigmatize the unvaccinated."
"As we move forward the approach of this government is going to be one of engagement, one of respectful dialogue. The government understands we can disagree without being disagreeable," Moe told the assembly on the final day of the fall session.
The remarks came days after Moe had a one-hour phone conversation with Nadine Ness, the leader of Unified Grassroots, a group that opposes COVID-19 public health measures and questions vaccine effectiveness.
Moe defended the call, saying it was important to reach out to those with varying views.
Ness, along with Saskatoon PPC candidate Mark Friesen, filed an injunction against the provincial government's proof-of-vaccination policy in late September. A judge threw out the challenge.
Moe said he was not aware Ness and her co-applicants had unsuccessfully taken the province to court, eventually being ordered to pay $5,000 in costs to the government and the Crown Investments Corporation.
Polls show divisions exist in Sask.
Moe's comments about "divisions" are not without merit.
Truck convoys, protests and blockades have taken place across Canada calling for an end to vaccination mandates.
A recent survey found more than 31 per cent of respondents had reduced contact with a friend or family member over the past year because of differing views or opinions on the pandemic. The survey was done by the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research (CHASR) at the University of Saskatchewan in partnership with CBC Saskatchewan
Almost 94 per cent of those who had reduced contact said the split was caused by opinions about COVID-19.
Moe said Tuesday that while the vast majority of Saskatchewanians have received two doses of vaccine, "many that are vaccinated don't agree with the policies that are in place."
Those polices will first be removed in Saskatchewan, with Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec following suit in various stages over the next few weeks.
Moe has said vaccine mandates served their purpose, which was to get more people vaccinated quicker.
He said Tuesday that the government had been reluctant to introduce the measures in the first place.
"For a time during that Delta wave, I do believe that the benefits of this policy, most certainly did outweigh the costs."
Moe said the public health orders "effectively created two classes of citizens. To my knowledge, this province has never done anything like that before in our history, for any vaccine or for any other reason for that matter."
Opposition NDP MLA Betty-Nippi Albright, a residential school survivor, responded to Moe's claim that Saskatchewan has never created "two classes" of citizens saying, "I beg to differ."
Vaccinations slow, hospitalization risk still higher for unvaccinated
Saskatchewan was one of the first province's to widely offer third doses, but uptake has slowed in recent weeks, with 49.5 per cent of those eligible having received a third dose.
Moe expressed the importance of a third dose for protection against Omicron, which has changed the hospitalization dynamic from the Delta wave.
The transmissibility of Omicron is affecting vaccinated people. However, the most recent figures from the Ministry of Health indicate unvaccinated people are still facing more risk of severe illness and hospitalization.
In January, the hospitalization rate for unvaccinated people was 55 per 100,000 compared to 32 per 100,000 for people with two shots and 22 per 100,000 with three.
Unvaccinated people account for roughly 20 per cent of the eligible population, but 43 per cent of COVID-related deaths in January were unvaccinated people.
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with files from Theresa Kliem and CBC Edmonton