Restaurant workers will not be included in Phase 2 of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, leading one group to wonder why the government is prioritizing industries that weren’t forced to shutter during lockdown because they were at higher risk during the pandemic.

When the Ontario government released their comprehensive list of those eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 2 of its rollout two weeks ago, one group was noticeably missing—the food and beverage industry. Their absence prompted restaurant owners and advocates to reach out to the government for clarification, asking why a group of employees whose job it is to interact with unmasked customers wasn’t being prioritized on the same level as low-risk retail workers.

GUEST: James Rilett, Vice President of Central Canada with Restaurants Canada

Biden has shown that he understands how the modern U.S. presidency works, both in terms of policy and the nation’s psyche.

CLICK HERE for the full article in the Conversation.

GUEST: Jason Opal, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Classical Studies with McGill University

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

Canadian drug developer Medicago said on Tuesday it had started a late-stage study of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine combined with a booster from GlaxoSmithKline.

The study plans to eventually enroll 30,000 participants and initially focus on healthy adults, followed by adults over the age of 65 and those with co-morbidities.

Medicago, which has Canada’s most advanced COVID-19 vaccine project under development, expects to report results from a mid-stage trial of the vaccine in April.

GUEST: Brian Ward, Medical Officer with Medicago

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Ontario's long-term care homes are losing staff to places like Amazon, aiports and the film industry.

According to the Ontario Long-Term Care Association, the staffing crisis is worsening now that other industries need people like infection prevention and control specialists.

Staffing shortages have been cited as one of the main reasons the pandemic has had such devastating effects in nursing homes.

GUEST: Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long Term Care Association

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Canada has indeed asked the United States for help in procuring doses of COVID-19 vaccines, but the White House refused to say Wednesday whether it has agreed to the request.

Press secretary Jen Psaki will only say that the Biden administration is considering the request, not whether it has agreed to it.

ALSO: EU proposes coronavirus passes to allow people to travel freely in region by summer

GUEST: Elliot Tepper, Emeritus Professor of Political science, Carleton University

Most of us know what the past year as been like as a supermarket shopper, from relearning how to navigate the aisles to seeing what services retailers are pivoting to. But few understand what it’s like for grocery store workers — the people who went to work every day, wiped down the carts and baskets, restocked the shelves and ensured that customers were able to make the most of their essential outings.

Researcher Emily Duncan, interviewed 30 grocery store workers in the Guelph area about work since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal, she says, is to make recommendations to governments on how to improve conditions and to inform the public what it is like to toil on the front lines.

GUEST: Emily Duncan, Researcher and PhD candidate in the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Guelph