Alberta doctors criticize provincial COVID-19 report as harmful ‘anti-science’

“At a time when our hospitals are struggling to stay afloat and patients are waiting for care every hour of every day,” says Duggan, “the $2 million price tag for this product could have been much better spent.”

The report, issued Friday, comes from a panel appointed by Premier Danielle Smith in 2022 to look at how data was collected and used to respond to COVID-19.

Smith has been a staunch critic of pandemic rules and vaccine mandates.

Smith’s counterpart, NDP leader Naheed Nenshi, says the UCP blew $2 million to, “pay some of the biggest anti-vax extremists in the world.”

“Why? There’s no way she would actually implement these authoritarian ideas? Or would she?,” asked Nenshi.

“As the Alberta Medical Association has stated, this report is anti-science and anti-evidence, and spreads misinformation.”

Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), meantime, says her organization endorses the AMA’s concerns.

Reimer says the report, “promotes misinformation and has the potential to create mistrust of the medical and scientific communities.”

Adds Chris Galloway, executive director at Friends of Medicare: “The recommendation to impede the ability of Albertans to choose to get vaccinated is just the latest in a trend from the provincial government of putting ideology ahead of medical evidence.

“In the recent legislative session, the government brought in new restrictions to sex education and limited access to gender affirming care regardless of consent, while continuing to promise to soon table forced treatment legislation while cutting harm reduction services,” says Galloway.

Resolutions to the recent UCP convention also sought to further restrict abortion access, undermine the right to choose, and attack health care services for 2SLGBTQ+ Albertans.”

Galloway says while the government talks a lot about freedom and choice, their record shows, “an ideology of control.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2025; it has been added to, with additional news release quotes from the AMA, NDP, CMA and Friends of Medicare, by rdnewsNOW

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Alberta doctors criticize provincial COVID-19 report as harmful ‘anti-science’

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