A little over a week ago, I suggested your personal decision to not get the H1N1 vaccination was selfish.
That's right. I think those who reject science and prefer to buy into silly conspiracy theories and urban legends and reject the free H1N1 flu shot are selfish. They're selfish because getting immunized means a person does not spread the illness to others. That's one less carrier walking around, shaking hands, touching public door knobs and TTC poles and spreading the virus.
With 54 comments, that entry seemed to strike a nerve with people, especially my pal Freddie P from Canadian Thinker. He wrote an entry about my stance in which he said he was "amazed" by what I had wrote. Freddie didn't hold back and let me have it.
It's a personal decision and certainly not something that should be criticized or lead to insults from people who are willing to buy into every flavour of the month.
If you want to throw the word selfish around, how about those bastards who showed up even though they knew they weren't eligible. And I wonder how many healthy people have actually contracted something while standing in one of those pathetic lineups.
If you're that worried about the virus put your house in lock-down or wear a flippin' mask when you leave the house.
There are 47 more comments over there. Hector wrote, "Well said Fred! I couldn't believe Mike's stance on this issue." Argie wrote, "I totally agree Freddie. Mike, I'm afraid, has a case of Torontoitis. This sickness is diagnosed as any person who follows, like a blind sheep, whatever the Toronto media preaches." And James Edgar wrote, "I usually side with Mike but this time he's off base."
I value Fred's opinion, as I do Hector's, Argie's and James Edgar's, but I stand by what I wrote. The more people who get the H1N1 flu shot, the less dead bodies there will be.
As I read the dead tree version of today's Globe, I couldn't help but notice a full-page letter to Canadians from Dr. David Butler-Jones, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. Dr. Butler-Jones outlines the government's plan to protect Canadians against the H1N1 flu virus.
There was one line that spoke to my point about how not getting the vaccine is selfish. "The more Canadians who get vaccinated, the better we all are protected against the H1N1 flu virus".
Without actually printing the word "selfish", Dr. David Butler-Jones, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, has my back. It's a simple numbers game. The less people carrying the virus, the less people contracting the virus, the less deaths there will be.
Get your goddamn flu shot, Fred.
