Ulterior motives at play

Re: What happened to us?

In a recent Writer’s Bloc column, Rob Murphy, who failed to identify himself as a staffer for federal Conservative opposition MP Dan Albas and past campaign manager for provincial Liberal opposition MLA Renee Merrifield provided exaggerated and inaccurate information about vaccine rollout. The public is having enough difficulty sorting it all out without an Opposition political staffer confusing the issue.

Rob stated that many 72 year olds won’t have an appointment until next month and that people like him in their mid-40’s won’t get their first shot until September. I am 67 years old, just following the normal public health protocol and I am booked to have my first shot this coming Friday. My sister is 68 and had her first shot 2 weeks ago. I don’t know a single person over 70 who has not already had their first shot if they had registered and booked for it when public health opened up registration for them. Anyone 55-65 has been eligible for their vaccine for a couple of weeks.

It is now mid-April (September is 5 months away) and it was recently announced that registration for vaccination for ages 18 to 40 is opening up this week, so I think it’s a bit of a stretch to think that Rob, in his mid-40’s will wait until September before he gets his first shot. I worry more about those who will choose not be vaccinated.

I have no issue with political messaging, and I have no issue with justified criticism of our elected officials, but at this critical time when widespread vaccination is what is needed to get us back to something that approaches normalcy, politically motivated messaging, especially when it is either exaggerated or inaccurate does more harm than good.

For information about the vaccine rollout and when you are eligible to register and book your appointment to get your vaccine, look to public health announcements, not political motived columnists.

John Kemp, Kelowna