A professor at the University of British Columbia says the call for vaccine mandates are “not science based at all” and raises concern about the potential health risks, especially towards young people..“You have to look at what the actual risk of COVID-19 is. The chances of dying from COVID is about .003% for people under the age of 24 in Canada,” said Dr. Steven Pelech, Division of Neurology in the Department of Medicine at UBC, and Senate Representative for Faculty of Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies..In addition to Pelech’s work at UBC, where he has been on faculty since 1988, he is the president and chief scientific officer at Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation, and chair of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee at the Canadian Covid Care Alliance..“If you’re under 19, your chances of having harm from the vaccine is about four to five times higher than getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 itself,” said Pelech in an interview with the Western Standard..“It’s a little bit higher in males than females, but why would you want to submit people who are unlikely to be negatively affected by the virus itself with vaccines that have now been proven – in scientific literature – to be associated with health risks..“For example, myocarditis. Inflammation in the heart. Contrary to what a number of people have said, there is no such thing as ‘mild myocarditis,'” said Pelech..“It’s the destruction of the myocytes, the heart cells that contract. When those cells die, they are not replaced in your body and are instead replaced by scar-tissue, which is from fibroblasts – skin cells which don’t have contractile activity, so the remaining muscle cells have to get a little bigger in order to compensate..“Every time you get an inflammatory response, you lose more of that contractility and have a greater chance of heart attack and other problems later in life.”.A recent surge of the Delta variant has sparked fear and outrage, with many calling for stricter mandates as a means of dealing with it..“There’s been all sorts of misinformation with respect to the Delta variant,” said Pelech..“It is clear that this virus is much less dangerous than the Alpha variant, which was the predominant variant in the BC population up until a few weeks ago. Now about 95% of the cases in BC are Delta..“The Delta variant is probably the latest variant that’s on progression of SARS-CoV-2 evolving into a common cold. That’s what the other cold coronaviruses originally did as well.”.Last week BC health authorities announced those working in long-term care or assisted living facilities will be required to have the full dose of COVID-19 vaccine by October 12, and all employers must provide information collected from staff to the PHO in order to “confirm vaccination status of staff.”.On August 13, the Liberal government announced unvaccinated Canadians are no longer allowed to travel inter-provincially via train, plane, or large boats..In late July, Island Health introduced ‘Vax Vans,’ custom mobile COVID-19 immunization clinics which have the authority to inject children over the age of 12 without parental consent. They are allowed to do this under “mature minor consent.”.“Children 12 and older who are able to understand the benefits and possible reactions to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and the risk of not getting immunized, can legally consent to or refuse immunizations at any Island Health COVID-19 immunization clinic or Vax Van,” Andrew Leyne, media and government relations advisor, Island Health, told the Western Standard..You can read about mature minor consent here..“There is a question of human rights,” said Pelech..“It’s a clear violation of human rights if these vaccinations become mandatory. The law is quite explicit about this and I’m surprised that the BC human rights commissioner has not been more vocal.”.The award winning scientist has authored over 220 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals according to Vancouver Coastal Health’s website..“This is a defining moment in society,” said Pelech..“We are testing the ethics of people in terms of what they really believe. Do you go with the flow even though you know it’s not right? When you do that, when you acquiesce to injustice, you are participating in that process. You are letting it happen..“And now the government has called an election?.“To call this now, it tells you that they recognize the situation might be quite different a few months from now, and all the failure of how they handled this situation will become much more blatant..“There will be a lot of upset people, I assure you.”.Reid Small is a BC correspondent for the Western Standard.,rsmall@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/reidsmall
