Covid-19 response, Canada is the best (with Japan)
TORONTO – Canada managed the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic and resisted the upheaval that followed better than many other nations with similar health and economic infrastructures: this is what emerges from a research, published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, which attributes Canada’s good performance to persistent and restrictive public health measures, as well as a successful vaccination campaign.
A team of Ontario researchers compared data from February 2020 to February 2022 in eleven countries: Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, all of which have systems political, economic and health care alike.
“The differences between Canada and other ‘G10s’ are huge,” said study co-author Dr Fahad Razak, as reported by CP24. Canada has in fact recorded the highest vaccination rate, the lowest number of infected people and the lowest deaths in the entire West: only Japan has done better, worldwide. According to the research, the cumulative pro capite rate of Covid-19 cases in Canada was in fact 82,700 per million, while in all the other countries considered, with the exception of Japan, it was higher than 100,000 per million. The Covid-19-related death rate in Canada was 919 per million, again the second lowest behind Japan. In all other countries, over 1,000 per million.
Razak said at least 70,000 more Canadians would have died during the first two years of the pandemic (total deaths currently stand at 41,873) if Canada had the same death rates as the United States, the country with the highest cumulative number of deaths linked to Covid-19. “This means that most of us would probably have a dead grandfather, family member or friend if we had had the same trajectory as the United States,” Razak said.
He went on to say that Canada’s relatively positive results were achieved despite access to vaccination coming later than most countries and despite some structural disadvantages of the health system. “Some hospitals were so overwhelmed that we had to transport patients by ambulance or plane patients to other hospitals,” he said.
But Canada has had an edge when it comes to implementing stringent and persistent public health measures. While such measures have sparked vehement opposition in some quarters, Razak says they have helped mitigate the overall impact of the pandemic. “Many other countries – added Razak – have implemented strict but less persistent restrictions, Canada has gone on for two years”.
But it was above all the success of the immunization campaign, according to Razak, that contributed to the containment of the spread of the virus. More than 80% of eligible Canadians were fully vaccinated with two doses in June. The percentage of populations vaccinated in other ‘G10’ countries is between 64 and 77 percent, according to the study.
“When we talk to our colleagues around the world, Canada arouses envy of the population’s response” to both the vaccination campaign and the restrictions, followed rigorously by all. “It’s a lesson to the world: very high involvement can occur with the right strategy “.
The study also showed that countries’ response to the pandemic left an economic burden, with public debt rising for all countries, and Canada itself experienced one of the highest relative increases. “We’ve had very significant economic impacts, we’ve had very strict restrictions on our individual freedom that have led to things like isolation … but we’ve also had some of the very best results in terms of controlling the impact of the virus,” Razak said. “Was it worth it? It’s not a scientific question – he concludes -, it’s a question of values, morals and politics”.
