Incidents in front of clinics: Canada wants to severely punish anti-vaccination protests

Up to ten years imprisonment: Such a draconian punishment threatens Canadian anti-vaccination opponents in the future, intimidating hospital staff and hindering their work. There were repeated incidents in the past few months.

Since Wednesday, children from the age of five can be vaccinated against the coronavirus in Canada. The health authorities had approved BioNTech’s vaccine for this age group. Since then, there have been more incidents in front of clinics: Opponents try to intimidate employees and prevent parents from having their children vaccinated.

Such behavior is “despicable and unacceptable,” said Canadian Justice Minister David Lametti and proposed an amendment to the penal code. Among other things, there is a risk of up to ten years imprisonment if health care workers are prevented from carrying out their work.

“Deplorable escalation of hatred”

“We saw all the protests during the pandemic, including this week,” said Lametti. He was disappointed that such a law was even necessary. But coronavirus deniers tried to discourage children from getting potentially life-saving vaccines.

The President of the Canadian Medical Association, Katherine Smart, said last year there was an “unfortunate escalation of hatred” – including violence against doctors and nurses at work. Linda Silas, President of the Federation of Canadian Nursing Associations, reported that even before the pandemic, 90 percent of carers complained of hostility and physical attacks while working. In the past few months, 60 percent of them experienced an increase in the intensity of violence.