Influenza season is upon us, and Alberta Health Services has begun working with communities to ensure people get immunized.
Unfortunately, in the Post Truth era of alternative facts and misleading or outright misinforming memes that altogether too many people consider gospel — because hey, if it’s on the Internet, it must be true — rates of vaccinations leave much to be desired.
The fallout from disgraced and discredited fraudulent former doctor Andrew Wakefield — who through shoddy, unsubstantiated and thoroughly debunked research back in the late 1990s erroneously claimed a link between autism and the MMR vaccine — continues to reverberate around the world.
Once all but annihilated diseases from measles to whooping cough have made significant comebacks as rates of immunization struggle to recover.
And although a mass flu immunization clinic was held last week at the Sundre Royal Canadian Legion branch, there was not exactly a massive turnout. While there is a possibility that people are getting vaccinated on their own time in pharmacies or clinics that also offer the shot for free, numbers from the Alberta Government and Statistics Canada paint a concerning picture.
In 2015-16, the latest numbers featured on the provincial government’s website, only about one-third of Albertans — roughly 1.1 million people — were vaccinated for the flu. Meanwhile, Statistics Canada says there is throughout the country an average of about 12,200 flu-related hospitalizations with a subsequent 3,500 deaths annually. The illness becomes particularly life-threatening when combined with pneumonia and a weak or compromised immune system.
So even if you’re otherwise perfectly healthy, medical professionals — not to be confused with celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy and Gwyneth Paltrow who push pseudo-scientific jargon for personal gain — urge getting a flu shot.
The idea being that while a healthy person might indeed bounce back after a bad bout of the flu, others they come into contact with might very well not be so fortunate. Seniors and infants are particularly susceptible to influenza and are less likely to recover as quickly with the all-too-real possibility of succumbing to the disease.
So don’t risk spreading the gift that keeps on giving, and make sure to protect not only yourself, but also more importantly those who are the most vulnerable.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
