Pro-Vaccine Journalist Who Called for Punishment for Refusing Jab Dies Suddenly

A nurse prepares a COVID-19 vaccine in Toronto on March 23, 2021. Cole Burston/Getty Images

A Canadian journalist who took strong positions in support of COVID-19 vaccines—including calling for vaccine passports and terminating police officers who refused the jab—has died suddenly.

Ian Vandaelle, a 33-year-old business journalist who worked at the Financial Post and earlier at BNN Bloomberg, was declared brain dead and taken off life support earlier this month, his partner, Stephanie Hughes, said in a post on X.

“I haven’t been on Twitter for a while because my partner, @IanVandaelle, has been in the hospital since Nov. 18,“ Ms. Hughes wrote. ”It’s with a heavy heart today that I say he was declared neurologically deceased this week and taken off life support this morning.”

Mr. Vandaelle’s death—the cause of which has not been disclosed—drew an outpouring of condolences among his current and former colleagues, many of whom took to social media to praise him for attributes like being kind and smart.

“Journalism has lost a great reporter, editor, producer, mentor, and all around great guy,” Ms. Hughes wrote in a post on X.

But Mr. Vandaelle’s death also stirred recollections of his ardent support for the COVID-19 vaccination push.

‘Bring the Carrot and the Stick’

Mr. Vandaelle’s public platform as a journalist led people to take note of his social media posts, especially those related to the controversial matter of COVID-19 vaccines and Canadian government measures that pushed shots in ways that many saw as draconian.

“I, for one, advocate we bring the carrot and the stick,” Mr. Vandaelle stated in a social media post in July 2021. “Incentivize getting the vaccine however we like - ice cream, lotteries, literally whatever, I don’t care - and require vaccination to do non-essential things. Wanna go to a bar to watch the game? Passport.”

Vaccine passports were introduced in all Canadian provinces in 2021, though some allowed proof of a recent COVID-19 tests instead of a passport to access non-essential services or engage in non-essential activities. They were discontinued by April 2022.

In another post from August 2021, Mr. Vandaelle urged the Toronto Police to get rid of officers who declined the vaccine: “Take the jab or resign; anything else is moral and ethical cowardice. You take an oath to protect citizens? You get vaxxed. Shameful that we have to say this.”

In November 2021, over 100 Toronto police employees who refused the jab or did not reveal their vaccination status were placed on unpaid leave. In June 2022, the Toronto Police Service ended its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for all members.

Dr. William Makis, a Canadian physician who has been critical of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and expressed concern about the safety of mRNA vaccines, wrote on Substack that he saw Mr. Vandaelle’s pro-mandate social media posts as problematic, accusing him of having “supported medical fascism, tyranny and some of the worst abuses of our lifetime.”

There were a number of other critical reactions on social media to Mr. Vandaelle’s pro-vaccine remarks in the wake of his death, suggesting the wounds of the Canadian government’s heavy-handed pandemic response are still raw.

‘Instill Fear’ to Break Down Resistance to Vax

A recent report from a citizen-led effort to probe Canada’s pandemic response accuses the government of colluding with mainstream media to spread fear about the COVID-19 pandemic while pushing people to get vaccinated under threat of potential reprisals.

“The pandemic was a textbook case of the collaboration of government and industry to subvert the democratic institutions and convince the citizens of the validity and truthfulness of a narrative that was objectively false from the start,” reads the Nov. 28 report from the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI).

The report accuses the government—along with figures in the mainstream media—of having “embarked on an information campaign designed to instill fear in the hearts of the citizens and ensure that they did not resist any and all draconian measures that were announced.”

Sweeping lockdowns, business curbs, mask mandates, and other restrictions on rights and freedoms were adopted quickly and with little room for public debate, the group said.

“Many people lost their lives due to fear, loneliness, and depression. Many others had scheduled surgeries cancelled,” the report reads.

“Many had adverse reactions to an experimental biologic injection that many were forced to take against their will,” the report continues, while accusing the Canadian government or resorting to name-calling and public shaming, and of having altered the social fabric and of tearing communities apart.

“Society, as it was known, had now become toxic and, in many ways, dangerous. As a result, the incidence of suicide, violence, and despair increased to unprecedented levels.”

Naveen Athrapully contributed to this report.