News

Much has been made lately of a public opinion survey in which 51 per cent of Canadians said they will not bother getting vaccinated against the H1N1 virus. That number will undoubtedly drop in the wake of the recent deaths of two otherwise healthy children. But it still speaks to a serious problem, and that is the lack of a clear message from health officials about how to react to a pandemic whose dangers are becoming more apparent with each passing day.

What exactly is the message we are getting about H1N1? Is it absolutely vital that we get the vaccination for ourselves and our children, or is it merely recommended (the Health Canada website says the vaccination is available for Canadians who “want” protection)?

And are we facing something akin to the seasonal flu we are all so accustomed to? Or, as appears more and more likely, is this something different – an aggressive and unpredictable strain that one minute seems familiar and the next kills a healthy and athletic 13-year-old boy in his sleep?

The federal government needs to take charge of the H1NI pandemic. This is a virus that is indifferent to jurisdictions; it will kill you in Newfoundland as efficiently as it will in British Columbia. Canadians need a single set of blunt messages about the disease. And the messages they need are these:

• This is not the regular flu: The seasonal strains of flu of the past have preyed on the sick and elderly; this one goes after young, healthy people – those most likely to come in contact with contagious people, whether at school, at work, on a public-transit system or at a hockey tournament.
• You may not know it's swine flu until it is too late: Doctors and emergency-room responders can't tell from a routine exam whether you or your child has H1N1 or another strain. Most people will recover on their own and may never know what it was that made them sick. Then again, they could end up in intensive care on a respirator. Or dead.
• Vaccination works: Immunization has been safely controlling infectious disease since the 18th century. Mass seasonal-flu immunization programs have never proved harmful. There is no rational reason to doubt the need, effectiveness or safety of the H1N1 vaccine.
• Could you live with yourself if your unvaccinated child died of swine flu? “We have no way of predicting which 18-year-old, which 10-year-old, which 30-year-old, who was previously healthy, will end up on a ventilator,” Dr. David-Butler Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said on Monday. That is not exactly true. We can safely predict that it won't happen to 18-year-olds, 10-year-olds and 30-year-olds who have been vaccinated in time.