The Campbell government can be criticized for many things but it deserves credit for continuing the efforts of the former government to encourage health workers and others to get their flu shots. The government's news release quoted Dr. Patricia Daly, medical health officer and director of communicable disease control at Vancouver Coastal Health, as saying that "Up to 25 per cent of unvaccinated health-care workers get influenza in any given season, and because they are infectious before symptoms even show up, staff can inadvertently pass influenza on to their patients." CKNW reported that "Only 56 per cent of hospital and health-care facility staff were vaccinated last year." The health unions and government should work together to see that any health worker capable of being vaccinated gets a shot. It would not be unreasonable to make vaccination a condition of employment.

It is unreasonable for people to demand that more and more money be spent on health care unless they are willing to do something to help prevent disease - whether it be vaccination or attention to personal hygiene. Anyone who uses a public washroom has to notice the number of people who walk right out the door without getting anywhere close to a sink, let alone properly washing their hands. A recent study by Wirthlin Worldwide for the American Society of Microbiology found that as many as 30% of travelers observed in airport washrooms don't wash their hands. In Toronto 95% of men and 97% of women did wash - probably because of awareness due to SARS.

Evidence shows that hand washing is one of the best preventative techniques for guarding against many diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control "The important thing to remember is that, in addition to colds, some pretty serious diseases -- like hepatitis A, meningitis, and infectious diarrhea -- can easily be prevented if people make a habit of washing their hands."

Hand washing will help but it won't be enough when disease is air born. In the 1918/1919 pandemic flu season, 20 million people died worldwide because of influenza. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 114,000 people in the US are hospitalized and about 36,000 people die each year because of the flu. Surprisingly some homeopathic practitioners discourage people from getting their flu shots, but the evidence shows that unless you are allergic to eggs, are already ill with a high fever, or have had a severe reaction to the flu vaccine in the past, you should get your flu shot. You don't have to be one of the more than 1,000 people who will die of the flu in BC this year. Don't think of the flu as just a little 24 hour inconvenience. The flu makes you very sick for a week or two and it can kill.