With all of the hype in the media, social networks, and the legislature as well I have about had enough on the topic of H1N1.
The bottom line of it is the GOA could have done much better on the administering of the H1N1 vaccinations. It also could have been much worse. Not knowing how the turnout will be for a mass inoculation the GOA erred on the side of caution and set up too few clinics. I live in a town of over 12000 and have to drive to the city for the shot, to me it is ridiculous but then again it puts me out so of course I would say that. Is the wait in the lines too long? I couldn't say as I remember waiting much longer to make sure my daughter could receive a Wii for Christmas not too long ago, certainly this shot is more important. Is the flu as bad as they say or predict it will be? Who knows, I know the shot is no charge and is safe so I am sure we will get it done.
The things I think could have been improved on is that the GOA say the youth are most at risk, so why not supply the shot in the schools. If there is K-5 in a school it would cover from roughly 5 yrs to 10yrs age groups. If they implemented this there would be a lot less children standing in the cold and probably many that are not high risk waiting to receive the shot. If I have to wait to have the kids done I am sure going to get mine while I am there. Many pharmacists give the normal flu shot, so make this available to them as well. Pregnant women should be able to go to their family doctors and gynecologists to receive the shot, they already are there to receive the treatment. Just some of the random thoughts that have gone through my head on the issue. There are so many other avenues available to us.
As for the skeptics, why criticize them? If they do not want the shot, oh well, it harms only them and their families if the pandemic is as bad as they claim. I would say that the fear mongering by the media and opposition parties is getting to the point of ridiculous, I would be interested if the media did a comparison on the number of deaths this year on H1N1 vs the seasonal flu. I think the numbers would be similar. I personally am skeptical of how much of a pandemic this is, however I will treat it as the worst case scenario. If something were to happen to my children because of my personal skepticism, it would be a burden I wouldn't want to carry.
In the end our GOA took a short cut and it bit them in the ass. The rate they are giving the shot it would take 100 days to administer, providing they did not run out of medication. This would take us out of the flu season. Nurses have been run off their feet to accomodate this. They claim they did not think this many people would be wanting it so soon. This many? As of yesterday I believe that 3% of the city had received the shot. What number did you expect? You have been telling us the importance of the shot for well over a month. I agree this was all poorly planned out, no consideration given to seniors, children, and pregnant women as far as the line ups were concerned. They have been out in the elements, no facilities or places to sit, but hey we will provide a shot for every Albertan. According to Liepert this is what counts.
Watching Ron Liepert dance around the questions at the Leg has been enjoyable though, as some very well thought out questions have been tossed his way. His arrogance is evident with the responses he has (or doesn't more so). The GOA needs to be held accountable for the lack of preparation and consideration on this, and you Mr. Liepert are the man. Your arrogance confirms how out of sync you are with Albertans and the questions they have. The opposition may ask them but we all want to know the answers. Keep doing your dance Minister, your time is limited.
UPDATE:
Ron Liepert was on Rutherford today stating the most at risk are under 5 years of age and pregnant women. If these are the at risk groups they should be the first to get the vaccine but only after our front line health workers and essential service employees receive it. Mr. Liepert says that the GOA will not decide who can and can not receive the vaccine first, it is assinine comments like this that prove that he has no clue. Liepert admits there is limited doses available which makes his inaction on ensuring the most at risk are first to the point of liable IMAO. Our government's job is to ensure the safety of Albertans, and if those who are not high risk get pissed because they are not first in line, oh well. The GOA has to stop their practice of trying to please everyone, and do the job of making the hard choices that need to be made. The WHO released brifing note 14 on the pandemic today with this stat I found interesting:
" Globally, teenagers and young adults continue to account for the majority of cases, with rates of hospitalization highest in very young children. Between 1% to 10% of patients with clinical illness require hospitalization.
Of hospitalized patients, from 10% to 25% require admission to an intensive care unit, and from 2% to 9% have a fatal outcome.
Overall, from 7% to 10% of all hospitalized patients are pregnant women in their second or third trimester of pregnancy. Pregnant women are ten times more likely to need care in an intensive care unit when compared with the general population."
The full report can be found here.
Your Moral And Intellectual Superiors
20 minutes ago
I agree it could have been better administered. To be fair H1N1 has been a moving target in terms of the timing and impact that this flu was going to have. Where I think we failed the most was not getting the shot earler because we are already on the upslope of the wave and when you draw the upslope of the wave as it concerns total number of persons who have received the shot, the "shots completed" wave is coming after the disease wave meaning that many of us are going to get sick anyway.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the severty of the flu I am shocked by just how hard it has been hitting other people around me.
IMHO,what would have made a difference...
ReplyDeleteFirst, get an experienced expert in logistics. Second, get a smart public health team and add. Third, add front line health workers, pharmacists and behavioural psychologists with knowledge and experience about mass hysteria scenarios and finally, add a few media planning and effect experts.
Mix these ingredients with goals, objectives and facts and place in oven for several weeks or months.
Next, run trial scenarios, measure results and adjust recipe as necessay.
Finally, ensure that Ron Liepert, Ed Stelmach, Stephen Duckett and all other individuals not part of the required ingredients are kept out of the kitchen and away from the cake.
Hell, send them to the far east, along with the ag folks already headed out on this $50,000. plus junket, on a crowded plane in economy class with no wireless access, and let them try and sell Alberta beef there instead of BS here.
So much for leadership. The issue out of this is not going to be the long lines, but the abandonment of the high risk groups that should have had access to the vaccinations first. It sort of turned into every one for themselves.
ReplyDeleteAs citizens we are not doing so good. Thought us Albertans had way more common sense. It will be interesting to see what happens next week when the vaccine runs out now that everyone thinks they will be in the .1% of the population who contracts this flu and may die from it. (Our survival rates are better than those in lesser developed countries and places where there is limited access to health care.)
I can relate to your decision as a parent and don't fault you one bit for it, but when you drove your family to the city to get their vaccinations did you at all consider the danger they were in just travelling on the highway. In Alberta, traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in people under 34 years old. In 2008, 410 Albertans were killed in traffic collisions, 70% of these collisions occurred on rural roads. That is compared to 85 people dying from H1N1 since April 2009.
I am in a low risk group and so am waiting. There is no way I want to have the Karma that would be attached to using up a dosage for someone in a high risk group who contracts this flu and dies.
I'm very happy with the way the situation is right now. We could be like hapless Saskatchewan that has yet to even release their vaccine. Good job, Ron Liepert.
ReplyDeleteWAP blogs have been real quiet lately. What's up with that?
ReplyDeleteThey've realized their movement is dead.
ReplyDeleteHa! The movement in the WAP is far from dead my friend. Been a busy month with the setting up a constituency asscoiation, PC AGM coming, implementing a hot lunch program for our local school, as well as the normal job to boot, hasn't left much time to blog as of late. Hopefully as the next couple of weeks fly by I will be able to get back to a couple a week again.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I did almost choke when I read Anon 2:34 with the "Good job, Ron Liepert." Talk about a commenter who doesn't follow AB politics.
So anyone who disagrees with you doesn't follow politics - they're ignorant?
ReplyDeleteIs this what we can expect from the WAP? What a crock.
You can expect what you like from the WAP, I made it clear I do not speak for them on this blog. I am actually wearing my PC hat when I made that comment , hopefully that makes you feel better:)
ReplyDeleteDisagreement is what debate is about, if I was one sided I certainly wouldn't let you continue to post here. Ron Liepert has done a horrible job with our health care, I am not too sure how much proof you require. On the other hand if you really want to debate instead of troll give me proof of the good job he has done for all to see. After all the useless statements, a down to earth reason you support him would be refreshing.
I disagree with the last commentary. Liepert has done a great job in having the courage to fire people like Jack Davis and create a much better system under one board instead of the top-heavy nine board model.
ReplyDeleteStop being so partisan. He's done a fabulous job.
This blog talks about change and he can't even reveal his identity? Get a life.
ReplyDeleteHa! Good one ANONYMOUS.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is a joke!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Rob Harvie, so, so much for the "anonymous" problem - and after spending the morning with the Minister, listing to his commentary on H1N1 and on health care generally, I'm willing to have some faith and watch the plan continue to unfold.
ReplyDeleteThere are some good things happening in health care, and we have some great people in government, including an MLA/Emergency Physician, Dr. Raj Sherman - who I have faith will move this Province forward where others stagnate.
At a recent presentation that was essentially a complaint about reducing hiring of nurses, the speaker, a physician, noted some excellent move in health care, including recent "whole care facilities" such as they have in Pincher Creek.
Alysson Redford was recenly on CBC, and had several speakers, including criminology professors from University of Ottawa suggest Alberta as a leader and model for addressing violence and early intervention for child abuse victims - which goes to the core in many respects of assisting in "wellness" - or keeping people out of hospitals.
Of course it isn' perfect - nothing is - but it is unfortunate that the msm is more interested in looking for what's wrong than occasionally asking "what is right?" and then sharing THAT with Albertans.