To the editor:
Recently news has been surfacing about the flu vaccine and its lack of flu prevention and, more importantly, its potential harmful side affects.
This is a controversial issue and will continue to be until people are educated on both sides of the issue. My concern is the level of government involvement, that has escalated this year, and when will it end.
My wife and two daughters are in the health care industry and refused to get the flu vaccine. All three of them are very healthy, take care of themselves and utilize natural prevention methods, as a result they have avoided the flu over the years.
My mother is in a care facility where half of the care aids there are unrecognizable in their face masks.
What the government is imposing is mandatory masks for those who did not receive the vaccine if you work in the health sector. Further to that, if a flu outbreak occurs at some point, those without the vaccine are sent home without pay.
It seems we are penalizing those who are healthy and take other steps to prevent the flu. Whether you agree with the effectiveness of the flu vaccine or not, this action by our government is shameful.
If we look at residents in most care facilities, they are usually all vaccinated. If this is the case, it would stand to reason that they are protected (if you accept the vaccine as effective). So, why then are we so concerned with the care staff and whether they’ve received the vaccine or not?
So, back to our rights and freedoms to choose what’s best for our bodies—a weighted subject, I know.
Our government has decided to join forces with the vaccine philosophy and impose penalties on those who don’t agree. This is not a huge issue for those who do not work in the health field, and certainly for those who accept the vaccine as effective. But I suggest to your readers that this policing by the government is out of line and if we accept this—what next?
Tom Janes,
Kelowna
