Thoughts on BC Politics and More

99% of us awoke this morning with no more that the usual aches and pains some of us have acquired through wear and tear. The people of my generation drank from a hose, rode bikes without chain guards or helmets on gravel roads, climbed trees (and fell out), used willow sticks to propel mud balls at targets, played ball without gloves, played hockey without shin guards or gloves, played football without armor. We froze our toes skating on outdoor rinks, drank and drove, smoked like chimneys, survived chicken pox, a couple of varieties measles, whooping cough, colds, the flu, pneumonia, and are still here. The 1918 influenza epidemic infected an estimated 500 million people -- or about one third of the world population at the time -- and resulted in about 50 million deaths. The polio virus first hit Canada in 1910. That virus hung around for decades, sometimes dormant sometimes not. Between 1949 and 1954 about 11,000 Canadians were left paralyzed. In 1959 the...

A couple of weeks back I came out of a medical appointment to hear Dr. John Harding, a medical health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, speaking on the CBC Noon hour radio program out of Vancouver.   His being asked to be a guest came about as the direct result of an individual with measles, having attended the Skookum Festival, and having been in a number of other locations that same weekend. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch the last couple minutes; what I did hear concerned me greatly enough that I contacted Vancouver Coastal Health to find out more. One thing that stood out for me came from a female caller to the noon hour radio program.   She indicated she had received an organ transplant several years before, and was therefore at risk from individuals contracting, and becoming sick from, serious diseases they had not been vaccinated for.   That is something I was not aware of, and I doubt many people are.   So, what are th...