Dear editor:

This is an open letter to Lord Mayor Betty Disero and Sean Simpson of Simpson's Pharmacy.

Clearly the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Canada, and Ontario specifically, is akin to something one would expect in a Third World country. The actors behind the distribution organization, including Ret. Gen. Rick Hillier, are totally incompetent as is evident from their results to date.

Hillier, for example should, as the renowned management guru Prof. Peter Drucker used to preach, stick to his knitting. Stated another way, “Stick to what you know,” not as he has been doing, injecting himself into the role of research scientist or infectious disease expert by proposing to the medical community that the vaccine be given once rather than twice.

Accordingly, Mayor Disero and Mr. Simpson, take the bull by the horns and take the play from these bad actors.

Immediately establish a local action team – go-getters who get things done; we have them in spades in NOTL. Use the community centre, similar to the flu vaccine setup, but larger. This could be established within one week. Staffing to administer the injections would be the least of the problem, we have an abundance of qualified retiree nurses nurses from doctor's offices etc. in our immediate region. Operate the centre seven days a week.

On completion of the centre's setup, go on Canada's national TV channels and highlight, “We are ready. Where are the vaccines?”

If we wait on politicians like Premier Doug Ford, we will be sitting here mid-year to next fall. We had nine months knowing we were eventually going to get a vaccine.

Planners should have been proactive setting up distribution plans and specific centres, not waiting until we had the vaccine and saying, “How do we get it out in the community?”

Reactive clowns.

Samuel Young
NOTL