I felt pressed with anxiety as we walked towards the emergency room (ER) doors of Prince George’s hospital (UNHBC) just before Christmas of 2021. I worried about the treatment our five-year-old daughter and I might received as Covid-vaccine-free citizens. Minutes prior to arriving, our daughter had trouble breathing. Her cold had moved into her chest, and we worried something more serious was going on — especially since my husband had pneumonia as a child. So now it didn’t matter how scared I was to walk through those doors, the health of our daughter far outweighed any apprehensions I might have. 

We were greeted by a security guard who handed us both adult-sized masks and told us to take a seat. Normally our family does not wear masks — ESPECIALLY our children, but in this case, I obliged. I set my daughter down and did my best to put the mask on her, even though it was doing absolutely nothing with all the gaps around her face. 

We stood, waiting for the triage nurse to deal with another patient who had become agitated. Once that was settled, the nurse returned to the desk. Instantly my anxiety increased as I recognized her from a previous visit where I noted she was a very pro-Covid-vaccine nurse. She began asking the normal, routine questions, but I braced myself knowing the question I dreaded was coming, “Is she vaccinated?” 

 I took a deep breath and replied, “No.” 

Immediately she stopped typing and looked up. “So no one in the household has been vaccinated?” 

“No,” I said pushing back against her disapproval. She went back to typing. It was this moment I lost any remaining hope of receiving proper care.

The nurse finished typing and then came around the corner of the nurses’ station. She looked at the adult mask drooping off our daughter’s face and asked us to take it off so I could put a child-size one on. Agreeing, I pulling off her mask and waited for a smaller one to be given to us. As I put the child-sized mask on my daughter, the nurse started taking her temperature, weight, and vitals. During this, the only personal protective equipment (PPE) the nurse wore was a mask — even when she asked my daughter to stick out her tongue standing just a few inches away from her. Once the nurse was done, she went back to her computer and informed me that our daughter had to undergo a Covid test.  

“Does she really have to?” I asked, “We don’t feel comfortable with her having that test.” 

“If she is in the hospital, she has to get one,” said the nurse.

As we walked to the next window, I quickly messaged a fellow momma whose daughter had recently been in the hospital and said she would help me through my experience. I asked if I was truly helpless and had to let them shove a potentially bio-hazardous material “made of hard materials and contain a variety of (nano) particles made of silver, aluminium, titanium, glass fibres etc…” into her body. (https://www.holistichealthonline.info/pcr-swabs/).  

We knew that when the PCR tests enter the mucous membrane, they can cause wounds and inflammation, and ENT [ear, nose and throat] doctors are finding patients mucous membranes are no longer intact and “can no longer fulfill their task of repelling viruses, bacteria and fungi before they reach the airways? The germs thus penetrate into the airways without any immune filter.” (https://www.holistichealthonline.info/pcr-swabs/) Knowing this, we did not want our daughter to have it done. Surely we had the right to say no! My phone vibrated and it was confirmed for me we could absolutely refuse the PCR test. (As a side note, I did some digging around afterwards and found out according to the BC Public Health Act “… a person has the ability to make health decisions and to decline medical treatments.” https://action4canada.com/charter-right-resources/). If legally we had the right to say no, why did the nurse present the test as a MUST with no other options?).  

Armed with this knowledge, I watched as the nurse — now decked out in gloves and a face shield despite being around my daughter just moments ago with only a mask on — came over with a PCR test in hand. I once again reiterated we did not feel comfortable with her undergoing the test. The nurse sighed and began questioning our personal lives, work, and social lives: “Have you been quarantining?” When I said yes- “you know that means you cannot go ANYWHERE right?” I told her I was a stay-at-home mom, and she asked, “Well what about your husband? That means he can’t be going to work” It felt like an interrogation of our life. It was very degrading as she continued to speak to me in a manner as if she was reprimanding a two-year-old. She went on to ask if we had “at least booked her for her swish and spit test,” as, “she should at least have that done.” 

At this point I was feeling attacked and unheard. I calmly reminded her we were simply there to rule out more serious illnesses like pneumonia, and we would consider a test if all other avenues were ruled out first. We would have gotten the test done if we had any reason to believe it could be Covid.

Exacerbated, she finally walked away saying, “Well we will see what the doctor says.” 

Glad that exchange was finally over, we sat alone in the hallway for about five minutes before a resident doctor came out and proceeded to ask me a few more questions and then asked about our daughter’s vaccine status. When I confirmed she was indeed not vaccinated for Covid, she looked up from her clipboard and told me “the only thing” they would do is take a quick listen to her lungs and send us for a Covid test. Nothing more would be done. No thorough examine. No bloodwork. No more questions asked. We weren’t even brought back to a room. She quickly listened to her lungs in the hallway and handed me a yellow referral for a Covid test. I left there feeling relieved the interrogation was over, but deeply disturbed by the lack of medical care given to our five-year-old. 

Once home, my husband and I calculated the amount of time our daughter and I were in the ER to be merely 20 minutes. That was all. Twenty minutes. When does that ever happen? Especially for a five-year-old child who moments before coming in was having trouble breathing. I truly feel we were given subpar treatment because of our vaccination status. We are both deeply sadden and disgusted that our daughter was dismissed so easily. We couldn’t understand how when our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states we have the right to, “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression,” we were being treated so horribly. (https://action4canada.com/charter-right-resources/.) Why was the vaccination status combined with taking a Covid test the only thing they cared about?

We later looked up the statistics for the day she was brought in, and according to Government of Canada’s website, only 29.4 per cent of confirmed Covid cases were among unvaccinated, while 69.3 per cent of those were double vaccinated. These numbers are now 14.3 per cent and 84. per cent respectively as of December 31, 2021. When C0VID has a 98.5 per cent survival rate (right from the Government of Canada’s website) how could they not see past their Covid procedures to see the five-year-old child sitting right in front of them? 

A similar account of denial of medical care because of vaccination status has been reported in Alberta: https://globalnews.ca/news/7903814/lethbridge-vaccinated-against-covid-tetanus-shot/.) 

The events that day seem to indicate that measures taken were not for health — as one would think hospital staff would have shown more care and compassion to the sick, five-year-old child that had been sitting in front of them. 

K. Smith | Staff Writer | PG Real News