It's so discouraging to read daily how much Canada lags behind other G20 nations in its procurement of vaccines. It's also no feather in this nation's cap that the most vulnerable in the population -- the elderly infirm with chronic illnesses living in long-term care institutions and retirement homes have constituted the vast bulk of Canadians by an estimated 80% of those who have perished as a result of contracting COVID-19.

Prioritizing this vulnerable segment of the population for the first wave of the available vaccines made good sense, along with the inclusion of their institutional caregivers as well as those health-care professionals whose positions place them in direct danger of contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID. 

But the rollout has been slow, poorly organized, and even that relatively small first selection has not been completed thanks to the delays being experienced in vaccine delivery with the only two vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna thus far approved by Health Canada notifying its clients that the delivery schedule for the vaccines would have to, of necessity, be interrupted as a result of production delays.

Among the most sensitive groups requiring more immediate attention for inoculation are those who are most susceptible to the ravages of the coronavirus, the elderly demographic above age 80, people with respiratory diseases, heart disease, diabetes and others, and they will have to wait, perhaps until March before sufficient supplies of vaccine will have been received and made available for administering.

In the meantime, new of mutations concern the experts. All the more so when even these variants more readily communicable and threatening more serious outcomes are themselves mutating to produce more worrying outcomes the longer it takes to inoculate populations, which in and of itself presents another considerable area of alarm. 

In our own little world of venturing away from home only when absolutely necessary, we continue to cling to once-weekly shopping expeditions to reduce any possible exposure to infection from this relentless pestilence. Good thing we're both book-lovers. We do know some people who don't read, never have, and never will, and time must weigh heavily on them. 

Most people as well, don't have the good fortune we're blessed with to live comfortably in their own home where we can manage social distancing, unlike apartment dwellers for example. And nor must we go anywhere in a car to reach a place where we can enjoy outdoor recreational opportunities. We have the pleasure of a peerless natural landscape close at hand where we're able to exercise our lungs and our musculature and offer the same advantage for our two little dogs.

Much to be grateful for, but difficult to get our minds around how the world has been forced to adapt to the presence of a silent hunter intent on endless replication and infection which has already reduced the world population by two-and-a-quarter million people.