Good morning.
In a few weeks, the world will mark five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unprecedented global health emergency put everyone to the test. Whether it was parents now working from home and thrust into the unforgiving role of teacher; healthcare professionals navigating stringent safety protocols and scary rates of illness and death; or politicians making decisions based on the best information available at that moment as best-practices evolved from new data emerging from around the globe.
What didn’t change? How good science is conducted.
But last Friday, the Alberta government quietly posted the final report of a task force set up by Premier Danielle Smith and led by a physician who opposed the province’s pandemic response, to review years of health data and make recommendations regarding a future pandemic.
The $2-million, 269-page document produced several recommendations, including that the use of COVID-19 vaccines be halted unless more information is provided about risk, that the value of drugs such as ivermectin (which scientists determined was ineffective in warding off and treating COVID-19) be reviewed, while also questioning the effectiveness of public health restrictions and masking.
Almost immediately, the scientific community spoke out against the findings.
Shelley Duggan, the president of the Alberta Medical Association, called the report “anti-science and anti-evidence,” a sentiment endorsed by her national counterpart at the Canadian Medical Association.
“It speaks against the broadest, and most diligent, international scientific collaboration and consensus in history,” Duggan said in a statement on Monday. “This report sows distrust. It criticizes proven preventive public health measures while advancing fringe approaches. It makes recommendations for the future that have real potential to cause harm.”
On Wednesday, nearly 70 medical doctors, research scientists, health law and policy experts also released an open letter calling on the province to dismiss the report in its entirety “as it inaccurately reflects the body of scientific evidence.”
Gary Davidson, who was appointed by the premier to lead the review, defended the report, calling science a “thoughtful, public discourse.”
“An ‘international scientific collaboration and consensus’ sounds like a conspiracy, and I stand firmly against conspiracy theories,” he said in a statement to The Globe.
Smith, who had not spoken publicly about the report until Wednesday, also defended it, saying it is important to listen to a cross-section of doctors, including those with “contrarian” views.
“I will always seek out contrarian voices just to make sure I make the best decisions,” she said at an unrelated news conference. “We always have to make sure that, in a world where we care about science, all voices are heard. That’s what science is. You actually hear different viewpoints, so that you can make solid decisions on what you hear.”
Smith said she was also pleased that the report identified issues that are “under question,” such as the efficacy of masks and vaccines for children, and the right of doctors to speak freely without being disciplined by their professional colleges.
The Premier became leader of the United Conservative Party in large part because of her opposition to public-health restrictions implemented under former premier Jason Kenney and skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines.
The task force’s report was given to the government roughly eight months ago, but Smith said it is still under review and no decisions have been made regarding its recommendations.
This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.