Two well-respected citizens of Winkler have teamed up to produce a video on social media to reach out to the unvaccinated in their community. In the video, Dr. Don Klassen and Mayor Martin Harder plead with city and area residents to get their shot to keep their families safe and return their community back to normal life.

Winkler and the R.M. of Stanley have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the province and local health officials are struggling to convince some people about the seriousness of the virus.

Doctor Klassen is encouraging people to speak with their health care provider, and seriously consider getting immunized against COVID-19. Klassen says his message is really a simple one, but he feels it's important to get out. He's asking people to trust the local physicians they have come to know over many years.

"We don't think there's a reason to not trust us on this, and by this I don't mean blind trust, but our opinion is that COVID is very real, it is here, and it is overburdening this hospital (Boundary Trails) as well as other provincial hospitals. We're all tired of the pandemic. But just being tired of it is not going to make it go away."

Klassen says they (local doctors) feel the vaccine is the way out of the pandemic.

"The vaccine has been very well studied. I say to people it's not somewhat time compressed in terms of years." He adds it would be safe to say the number of person hours spent researching this vaccine has probably been greater than any other vaccine in history.

Klassen points out we should remember what vaccines have done for our society, one example being the polio vaccine in the 50s. He says it's well known if we don't learn from history that we are doomed to repeat it, and he would hate to see us do that here. "I'm encouraging people in the area to talk to their doctors, to talk to their healthcare providers, and really consider having their vaccine administered."

Meanwhile, Mayor Harder says he's hopeful the video message will influence some to get the vaccine, but he's not certain it will.

"This issue has so divided the community and I'm sure I've lost some friends. It has pit people against each other, instead of working together, which is unfortunate because that's really where we need to be. The healthier the community, the more quickly we can go back to work, and the sooner things will return to normal."

Harder has been a popular mayor in Winkler since first winning office in the 2006 civic election, defeating challenges to his leadership in several elections since then.

Harder notes he and Dr. Klassen are hoping residents who have been hesitant about getting the shot might feel more comfortable getting the vaccine if there was some encouragement coming from someone they were familiar with.

"We thought that would be a better way to approach it, rather than having somebody from outside the community telling us what is important."