Peace River MLA Dan Williams says while they’re encouraging people to get vaccinated, they will not force anyone to do so.
The Mackenzie region has the lowest rate of people getting vaccinated in Alberta, but Williams says “everyone has the right to look into it for themselves.”
“There’s everything that could be a factor from the uptake in the local communities all the way to a certain lag in reporting of vaccinations, other means of immunity whether that be through international travel, there’s a number of snowbirds who got vaccinated in the states who live in our constituency.
Williams says there’s also some factors around the demographics for why the rates are lower.
“For the local geographic area in High Level up North, we see that children under 17 is about 40% of the population compared to a provincial average of around 22%. It’s a much younger population at the other side too. 6% is over 65 whereas something around 15% of the province is over 65.”
We talked about several different topics with Williams, including the reopening strategy for the Province, what he sees for the region coming out of the pandemic, his work on expanding palliative care support and much more.
You can listen to the full discussion below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
