(HEA2) The COVID-19 Pandemic Response: A Reappraisal

Maslow’s Pyramid was developed in the 1940s by American psychologist Abraham Maslow to supersede the pathologizing of the human condition informing the most popular psychological theories of the time, Freud’s psychoanalysis and Skinner’s behaviourism. Maslow, a humanist, believed that human beings have a universal drive towards self-actualization, meaning the development of their fullest spiritual potential, for which they need the essentials for physical survival, such as food, shelter, and health, among others. While the normative goal of public health policy is precisely to promote, protect, or when possible, restore the health of populations, policies that forget that health is not a goal but rather a means to support meaningful and purposeful lives – which may differ from person to person - do so at their peril. We propose that the past three years have witnessed a plethora of public health policies that, independently from their normative goals, have frequently caused more harm than good, and invite scholars from a variety of perspectives to identify, appraise, and problematize scientific, social, political, and ethical aspects of the public health response to Covid-19. While “getting the science right” is critical to evidence-based public health policy, it is equally important to examine how public policy responses to Covid-19 have contributed or not to promote the values at the top of Maslow’s pyramid. The goal is to learn from mistakes with a view to informing policies that can promote not only better health but also human dignity as well as a more democratic and inclusive social coexistence. Tags: Equality and Inequality, Health and Care, Policy

Organizer: Claudia Chaufan, York University; Chair: Claudia Chaufan, York University

Presentations

Harris Ali, York University

Social Inequality and the Differential Impacts of COVID-19 in the Urban Periphery

Those in the periphery of cities played an important role in pandemic response while bearing the brunt of the impacts. This paper investigates this neglected dimension of the pandemic response and the unfolding impacts by focusing on the “forgotten densities” of those residing and working in the urban periphery. Based on sites peripheral to Toronto – residential suburbs, warehouse districts, airport areas, First Nations reserves and agricultural locales – we discuss how the adoption and implementation of outbreak control measures, were unevenly applied across these sites relative to the city core, thus leading to particular challenges and consequences for the socially marginalized.

Abdullah Abusayed Khan, Khulna University

Navigating Post-COVID Challenges and Way Forward in Bangladesh: Advancing Social Justice, Health and Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact and challenges on health, education and psychosocial behavior and economy in the globe particularly in Bangladesh. It is an ever-negative factor that disrupts social functionality and setback both lives and livelihood opportunities. This study explores the adjustments followed by the community in the four case areas in Bangladesh. COVID-19 has a very short-run, short-run, mid-run, and long-run effect on the country's health, education, and economy. This warrants application of effective measures maintaining national and international linkages that would reduce impulsive tension to resettle in the post pandemic situation.  

Hazel Lievonen, York University; Claudia Chaufan, York University

"Do we tolerate these people?" Discriminatory media discourses as public health and electoral politics strategy.

Since the launch of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in December 2020, large groups of Canadians remained unvaccinated, which generated intense public debates over vaccination status. Overtime, the public and private sectors imposed wide restrictions on the Unvaccinated, who became stigmatized in the media and other social spaces. Drawing from medical research and critical policy and discourse studies, we discuss dominant narratives around the Unvaccinated in two leading Canadian newspapers of contrasting ideologies, focusing on election times. We present prelimintary findings of our investigation and offer recommendations for evidence-based and ethical practices in public health policy, especially in times of crises.

Claus Rinner, Toronto Metropolitan University

Challenging hate of "the unvaccinated": An imperative for sustainable post-pandemic recovery

Millions of Canadians who declined the COVID-19 vaccines were exposed to various forms of hate in the last three years. Using the August 26, 2021, Toronto Star front page (“Let them die”) and a January 15, 2024, Winnipeg Free Press op-ed (“The unwelcome unvaxxed”), I illustrate how the news media fueled, and possibly even ignited, this hatred. I argue that socially sustainable post-pandemic recovery requires agreement on three points of evidence and principle: (1) failure of the vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission; (2) falsehood of the “pandemic of the unvaccinated”; and (3) the ethical perversion of vaccination mandates.