Premier Jason Kenney speaking in Lethbridge in July 2021. (Lethbridge News Now)

By Canadian Press

Kenney apologizes for making analogy between COVID-19 and AIDS

Feb 9, 2022 | 10:05 AM

EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has apologized for comparing the stigma of being unvaccinated for COVID-19 to the plight of HIV-AIDS patients in the 1980s.

In a post on Twitter, Kenney calls it an inappropriate analogy.

Kenney told a news conference yesterday it’s wrong to judge and stigmatize people who have decided not to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

He compared it to attitudes decades ago when some people wanted HIV-AIDS patients isolated for the health protection of others.

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Kenney has a personal tie to the issue, fighting in San Francisco in the 1980s to overturn a law extending hospital visitation rights to gay couples a move aimed at preventing people from visiting their dying partners.

The Opposition NDP calls Kenney’s comparison despicable and says Kenney has no credibility passing himself off as a human rights defender.

(The Canadian Press)