The Current for Dec. 29, 2020
Today on The Current with guest host Catherine Cullen:
A second wave of COVID-19 has hit South Africa hard, and the country is now grappling with upward of 9,000 new cases and 200 deaths a day. Dr, Andrea Mendelsohn, a senior medical officer in the Western Cape Department of Health, says her resources for the surge of patients are running thin.
In Brazil, health experts like microbiologist Natalia Pasternak have been fighting battles on two fronts: struggling to handle the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, and countering vaccine denialism from President Jair Bolsonaro, who mockingly suggested that the Pfizer vaccine could turn people into crocodiles or make women grow beards.
Two vaccines have been approved in Canada so far, but some critics say they're not being administered fast enough. The Globe and Mail's health columnist Andre Picard says the Ontario government's decision to suspend vaccination efforts on Christmas Day, in particular, is both bad health policy and bad politics.
Ontarians Sandra Gray and Brian Goodger found Taffy the dog at the Isla Mujheres dog rescue during a vacation last year in Mexico. The dog rescue is responsible for finding homes for hundreds of dogs, in an area that has been overrun with stray, feral and malnourished pups. It's largely thanks to Alison Sawyer Current, author of The Dog Lady of Mexico: A Heartwarming Journey into Animal Rescue
Finally, we revisit Matt Galloway's exclusive Canadian interview with former U.S. president Barack Obama.