Melissa Alice

The federal government is taking incoming fire over its handling of COVID-19 vaccine procurement, both from across the aisles in the House of Commons and from across the federal/provincial divide, as provincial premiers, including Ontario’s Doug Ford, demand more clarity about how much vaccine and what variants will be made available, and when.

I suppose I have only myself to blame. On Wednesday, the day having gotten away from me, I retrieved my kids from school, bundled them and the dog into the car, and began driving around midtown, making stops along the way and knocking errands off my to-do list. Shopping with young kids has actually become easier during Toronto’s reimposed lockdown.

Last week, Ontario set a grim new benchmark: the province reported 1,855 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, a record single-day total. With the second wave of the pandemic having shown no signs of abating since then, TVO.org spoke with Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist at the University of Ottawa, about vaccines, hate mail — and why this pandemic serves as proof that society must pull together. TVO.org: I wanted to start with some good news.