Inoculation frustration: Compassion of doctors, nurses tested treating Alberta's unvaccinated COVID-19 patients
Months after COVID-19 vaccinations became available to all eligible Albertans, many people are still refusing to get them and subsequently ending up in hospital.
That's wearing on the medical professionals who end up caring for them.
"There is an underlying frustration that you feel personally," said Dr. Yael Moussadji, an emergency physician in Calgary. "However, when you practice medicine...you have to provide compassionate care to your patients, not matter what choices they've made in their lives...it is certainly testing the bank of compassion we carry with us on a daily basis."
Alberta is leading the country in new, daily COVID-19 cases and trailing the national average in vaccinations.
The vast majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Alberta have either only one dose of vaccine or none at all.
Dr. Moussadji said it appears that most people who refuse to get shots think they are protecting themselves.
Dr. Yael Moussadji, an emergency physician in Calgary.
MISINFORMATION, NOT IDEOLOGY
"This isn't about ideology," she says, "The number of patients that I have seen who are truly anti-vaccination is quite small. Most of the people I encounter who are unvaccinated are for various reasons due to misinformation."
Dr. Moussadji said many of those patients fear vaccine side-effects that don't actually exist or have found other incorrect information online.
Alberta's nurses said the vaccine hesitancy is the fault of the provincial authorities.
"What we are mostly mad about is the way the Kenney government has consistently downplayed the pandemic and not done a really good job of promoting vaccines," said Cam Westhead with the United Nurses of Alberta, "It's very demoralizing to have been warning the premier and health minster and Dr. Hinshaw about the capacity of the system...and to have been ignored this entire time."
Dr. Moussadji said she feels sorry for people fighting COVID-19 who thought they were being safe by refusing a vaccination.
"We certainly do feel compassion for these patients," she says, "because they now find themselves in a scenario where they do have COVID-19.
"Some of them are quite ill," she said, "and in some cases this could've been avoided or prevented."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. tenants evicted for landlord's use after refusing large rent increase to take over neighbouring suite
Ashley Dickey and her mother rented part of the same Coquitlam duplex in three different decades under three different landlords.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
Expert warns of food consumption habits amid rising prices
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Ex-tabloid publisher testifies he scooped up possibly damaging tales to shield his old friend Trump
As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was scooping up potentially damaging stories about the candidate and paying out tens of thousands of dollars to keep them from the public eye.
Here's why provinces aren't following Saskatchewan's lead on the carbon tax home heating fight
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would still send Canada Carbon Rebate cheques to Saskatchewan residents, despite Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's decision to stop collecting the carbon tax on natural gas or home heating, questions were raised about whether other provinces would follow suit. CTV News reached out across the country and here's what we found out.
Montreal actress calls Weinstein ruling 'discouraging' but not surprising
A Montreal actress, who has previously detailed incidents she had with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, says a New York Court of Appeals decision overturning his 2020 rape conviction is 'discouraging' but not surprising.
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye make it four NFL drafts with quarterbacks going 1-3
Caleb Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades.