Alberta Premier Welcomes ‘Contrarian’ Views of COVID-19 Task Force

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks in Edmonton on April 10, 2024. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she is unsure which recommendations she will adopt from a recent COVID-19 response report she commissioned, but is emphasizing her commitment to considering all perspectives.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Response report, released on Jan. 24 by a task force Smith created in 2022, calls for the province to stop the use of COVID-19 vaccines on children and teens. The report also recommends medical professionals be permitted to explore the use of alternative treatments to fight the virus.

The opposition NDP, some doctors and academics, Alberta Medical Association president Dr. Shelley Duggan, and the Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Joss Reimer have criticized the report, calling it “anti-science.”

Smith said it’s important that “contrarian voices” are not silenced when it comes to science, and that her government would listen to “every voice” and make assessments based on evidence. She made the comments in response to a reporter’s question during an unrelated Jan. 29 news conference.

“I know there’s been a narrative, and the narrative has been enforced by shouting down contrarian voices,“ Smith said. “The evidence has changed ... and what we were told at the beginning is a little bit different than what we’re hearing today.”

The premier said she was “pleased” there was a broad cross-section of doctors on the task force to “identify processes that were in place, identify things that may have gone wrong, identify things that are now under question, like the efficacy of masks and the efficacy of this vaccine in children.”

The task force consisted of medical doctors and other health professionals and academics. It was led by Dr. Gary Davidson, former chief of emergency medicine at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, and also included Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of health policy at Stanford University, and the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

“I think we always have to make sure that in a world where we care about science, that all voices are heard. That’s what science is. You actually hear different viewpoints, so that you can make solid decisions on what you hear,” Smith said. “I think restoring the right of doctors to be able to speak their minds without punishment from their colleges, I think that’s going to be important too.”

The premier said she would consider the recommendations in the report, but said her government didn’t yet have an “agenda” of which ones they may implement.

Canadian Medical Association president Reimer said the organization was “alarmed” by the report, adding that it has the “potential to create mistrust of the medical and scientific communities.”

Alberta Medical Association president Duggan said the report has “deficiencies and biases.” She also said that the report speaks against international scientific collaboration and consensus that saved “millions of lives” during the pandemic.

“This report is anti-science and anti-evidence. It advances misinformation. It speaks against the broadest, and most diligent, international scientific collaboration and consensus in history,” Duggan said. “This report sows distrust. It criticizes proven preventive public health measures while advancing fringe approaches. It makes recommendations for the future that have real potential to cause harm.”

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi called it an “authoritarian document.” He said the premier should not have spent $2 million on commissioning the review.

“Albertans deserve better than conspiracy theories; they want reliable access to family doctors and solutions to emergency room closures,” Nenshi said.

Lead author Dr. Davidson said he stands by the report and noted there have been similar reports released, including the findings by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in the United States.

“We should never be forced to go against what we know is best evidence and do something that is just, seeming to me, to be irresponsible,” Dr. Davidson told podcast host Shan Newman after the release of the report.

When asked if there was anything he would change, he said “nothing.”

“We put a lot of hours in and  I think, in the end, it’s a good report,” he said during an interview on the Shaun Newman podcast.

Report Findings

The task force looked at how data and information was collected and used to respond to the pandemic.

The report’s authors said the way the province developed and shared COVID-19 emergency response data, information, and messaging was “a critical failure of Alberta’s health system and is an ongoing concern.”

The report says Alberta’s regulatory colleges did not appear to conduct internal reviews of studies and data. Rather, the report authors said colleges followed directives from Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.

Solutions to the virus were limited due to threats and disciplinary actions against health professionals, leading to a “narrow band of COVID-19 responses acceptable to health regulators,” the authors said.

Among its recommendations, the report says COVID-19 vaccines should not be administered without full disclosure of potential risks. It also says the use of vaccines in healthy children and teenagers should stop. Report authors are also calling for further research into the effectiveness of the vaccines.

The authors also criticized lockdown orders, and questioned the effectiveness of mask mandates. They recommneded that the choice to wear a mask should be allowed to be a personal medical decision, and that the public should be provided with proper education on mask usage and selection.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.