The good news is that the light at the end of the tunnel in the COVID-19 fight might be something other than the proverbial train.
The province had a slow start with administering the vaccine, and clearly, things aren鈥檛 going as well as hoped. It鈥檚 largely because only a fraction of the doses allotted to Saskatchewan have made their way into people鈥檚 arms. It鈥檚 also because the overall allotment to Saskatchewan hasn鈥檛 been enough.
There is some progress being made at getting that Moderna vaccine that doesn鈥檛 require minus-80 C storage to the north.
But with only 150 to maybe 240 vaccines being administered each day, it is going to take a ridiculously long time to immunize an entire province of nearly 1.2 million people. As a result, many more are likely to get sick or even die as we await this to happen.
That the Saskatchewan Party government was making some headway last week at getting the vaccines to northerners and frontline health care workers is obviously a positive. It鈥檚 critical to first address those most at risk. And the one thing this virus has surely taught us by now is those most at risk are those who come into close contact and those cloistered together in remote, small communities.
But by now, it should have also taught us to be both more prepared and more vigilant than we have been. And it鈥檚 here where Premier Scott Moe鈥檚 government has been falling short.
The Saskatchewan premier and other premiers across the country do have a right to be frustrated by the federal Liberal government鈥檚 inability to get the vaccines in the hands of the province quicker. That Prime Minister Justin Trudeau complains about also being 鈥渇rustrated鈥� by the vaccine rollout largely points to the reality that no one properly prepared for what we faced.
Really, there was no particular reason why we didn鈥檛 have a better distribution plan in place 鈥� especially given that we had months to devise one as we awaited the arrival of an effective vaccine.
But preparedness has never been exactly the strength of governments. This pandemic has surely reminded us of that.
For example, where a vast disproportion of deaths have occurred is in personal care homes 鈥� something that many chalk up to the reality of housing elderly people with underlying health conditions.
But unless you鈥檙e, sadly, of the mind that we shouldn鈥檛 be doing our utmost to protect the elderly and vulnerable, what this COVID-19 has done is underscore our past failings.
For a decade now, we鈥檝e been all too aware that crowded senior homes were a recipe for disaster for our most vulnerable.
But especially when it comes to private nursing homes, we haven鈥檛 done our utmost. We did what seemed most cost-efficient and affordable and we now may be paying a price for it.
At best of times, governments tend to get distracted 鈥� sometimes simply by their own rules they choose not to follow.
This was the case in the recent rash of resignations across the country 鈥� including that of former highways minister Joe Hargrave 鈥� for flouting strong government recommendations that advised everyone else to stay home at Christmas.
Good governance is all about focusing on what needs to be done.
Moe鈥檚 Sask. Party government needs to get back to that.
