The Current

The Current for May 10, 2021

Today on The Current: Young people eager to get vaccinated after Health Canada approval; Global Vaccine Poem asks people to write stanzas to their COVID-19 shot; and inside Dagmarsminde, a Danish care home with a compassion-based approach to dementia support.
Matt Galloway is the host of CBC Radio's The Current. (CBC)

Full Episode Transcript

Today on The Current:

Health Canada has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 12 and up, leaving many eager to get the shot, but waiting to see how the provinces will roll it out. We talk to Estora Marshall, a 17-year-old who works in a grocery store in Toronto; Anne Belanger in B.C., whose 15-year-old son has a health condition that leaves him vulnerable to COVID-19; and Dr. Jim Kellner, a pediatric infectious disease specialist with Alberta Health Services.

Plus, you might have taken a selfie when you got your COVID-19 vaccine, but would you write a poem to mark the occasion? David Hassler is co-leader of the Global Vaccine Poem, which asks people to reflect on the pandemic and receiving their shot, and put those feelings into a few lines of verse. We also hear from Laura Wood in Owen Sound, Ont., who is among more than 1,400 people who have contributed to the global poetry initiative.

And the new documentary It Is Not Over Yet looks at Dagmarsminde, a care home for dementia patients in Denmark. The home's founder, May Bjerre Eiby, tells us about their alternative approach to care — one that's rooted in compassion, minimal medication and creating a sense of community through hugs, nature, cake and cocktails.