News Views: Pan-dem-ic button
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Updated: November 05, 2009 4:40 PM
H1N1 hysteria has reached fever pitch in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, as panicked throngs of parents, children and seniors line up for hours to get their dose of vaccine at walk-in clinics and doctors offices.
It’s a similar situation being played out across the country as Canadians try to protect themselves and their children from this potentially deadly virus.
But let’s put the supposed threat of H1N1 flu into perspective. So far, 15 people have died in B.C. from swine flu. Earlier this week, provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall predicted the death toll this flu season from the H1N1 virus would likely be less than 50 – a fraction of the 200 to 800 B.C. residents who die each year from seasonal flu.
Not to minimize those 15 H1N1 deaths, and those who will undoubtedly succumb to this virus this flu season, but the hysteria hardly seems justified.
Compare those numbers to the close to 8,700 people in B.C. who died from cancer in 2007 (source: B.C. Cancer Agency), and the threat seems trivial. That same year, 118 people were killed by drunk drivers (RCMP B.C. Traffic Services), and 88 were murdered (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics).
In fact, more British Columbians will claim the top prize in the BC 49 lottery this year than die from H1N1.
The World Health Organization is partly to blame for the hysteria. Its liberal use of the word “pandemic” to describe H1N1 has understandably conjured up images of the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu, pandemics that killed 75 million and 50 million people, respectively.
Thankfully, medical technology has progressed since then.
So should you get the H1N1 vaccination? Absolutely. H1N1 can still knock you on your butt for days, and it can be fatal.
But take a deep breath, calm down and be patient.
After all, you are more likely to be struck and killed by a drunk driver, murdered, or win the lottery than you are of dying from H1N1.
Something to keep in mind while you wait in line at the clinic.
– The News
