Albertans will receive H1N1 shots starting Monday after the vaccine was approved this week by Health Canada, part of the largest immunization campaign in the country’s history. In spite of messages from health officials encouraging the public to get vaccinated and high profile media exposure, many Canadians remain reluctant to roll up their sleeves amid confusion about whether the vaccine is in fact necessary or safe. The inability to convince Canadians rests squarely at the feet of our leaders who have been unable to wrestle control of the message.
A poll earlier this month indicated the immunization campaign has not convinced Canadians to get their shots. The Canadian Press-Harris Decima poll suggested just one-third plan to receive the H1N1 vaccine, down from 45 per cent in late August. The slide came despite calls from health policy experts who implored Health Canada to provide assurances to Canadians that the vaccine under development would be effective and safe. Many older Canadians still recall the swine flu vaccination fears from 1976 when hundreds of Americans came down with a rare autoimmune disorder, Guillain-BarrĂ© syndrome, which causes paralysis. Anti-vaccination speakers have cited the disorder in the arguments to learn the “full truth” about flu shots.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper helped muddy the waters last week when he said he’d receive the H1N1 shot if “it’s generally recommended for people to get the vaccine,” a statement that showed a disconnect between the PMO and advice previously issued by his own health minister and public health officials. Health Canada also received heavy criticism from Liberal MPs Carolyn Bennett and Kirsty Duncan for taking too long to approve the vaccine, which was originally set to roll out in mid-November. Around the same time NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis blasted the Conservatives for moving too quickly. The vaccine rhetoric amped up Thursday when the Liberals slammed the Conservatives for being more concerned about partisan infrastructure announcements and giant cheques than convincing Canadians the H1N1 vaccine is safe.
While the H1N1 messages coming from federal politicians and health experts is anything but consistent, the picture is clearer closer to home where the number of cases of H1N1 in Alberta is on the rise, reaching 139 as of Oct. 16, including 51 cases in the Capital region. The flu has hit area schools hard, including Ecole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville (ESSMY) where a third of students were absent Tuesday. It’s unclear how many students, if any, contracted H1N1. School officials indicated many have come down with seasonal flu, however the 33 per cent absenteeism rate was exceedingly higher than the normal rate, which rarely hovers above five per cent.
St. Albertans can decide for themselves when the H1N1 flu clinic opens inside Grandin mall on Monday. Alberta has 400,000 doses of the vaccine to start, and the province’s chief medical officer says it’s the only way to slow the spread of the virus, which if left to proliferate would burden our health-care system. Despite all the confusion, the overwhelming majority of medical experts have said the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks of not taking it. Now it’s up to each of us to decide whether immunization is in our best interests.
