Liberals Attempt To Capitalize On H1N1

Liberal Party President Alfred Apps

You can’t spell pandemic without the panic. The Liberal party has taken it upon themselves to attack the Conservatives in the House of Commons surrounding the H1N1 flu pandemic, leaving Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to repeat the same reassuring message over and over in Question period:

“Mr. Speaker, six million doses were produced ahead of schedule. As soon as they were available and authorized they were transferred to the provinces and territories for their roll-out. We will see thousands more this week and one million more next week.”

It’s no surprise that the Liberals are questioning the government surrounding the vaccination rollout, and the news is full of stories of long lineups, shortages of the vaccine delivery, and prospective seekers of inoculation being turned away after waiting for hours. It is important to get such answers from the government, and it would be irresponsible of the official opposition not to ask these questions.

Having said that, it seems rather opportunistic, and perhaps even a little bit desperate, that the Liberals are trying to make a flu vaccine shortage into something larger than it actually is. While some Canadians, including myself, have expressed dissatisfaction with clinics turning people aside, and the media for overselling the necessity of the vaccination, the entire affair seems to be proceeding about as normally as can be expected when a sudden demand exceeds a given supply.

It isn’t as though Canada is the exception to this shortage, as the United States is also struggling to manage large crowds with panic and anxiety. The American Medical News reports that many physicians down south are trying, without apparent success, to find vaccines or local alternative sources for their patients.

“People are scared. People are frightened. And they’re feeling like, ‘Oh my God, I need the vaccine and it’s not available,’ ” said John Sage, MD, a family physician and medical staff president at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill.

It’s been no different in Europe. This is, as the World Health Organization has explained, a global virus that will attack the northern hemisphere this flu season. It isn’t a localized phenomenon, like an Earthquake, or a Wildfire, or even a Hurricane and a flood. That hasn’t stopped Liberal Party President Alfred Apps from circulating the news that the Canadian government response to this crisis is like Hurricane Katrina, the event that is said to have lost President Bush’s popularity with the nation:

The attached article “The Broken Contract” was written by our leader Michael Ignatieff in response to the Bush government’s utter failure to rise to the obvious challenge to public security, order and health presented by Hurricane Katrina. Is the H1N1 pandemic the “Hurricane Katrina” of our own laissez-faire, fend for yourself government? Read the attached. Reflect on the analogous situation we face. Consider the priorities and values that underlie our own government’s response to the threat to public health that this pandemic represents. Recognize that Mr. Harper’s government has utterly failed to stand with Canadians and for Canadians in a matter of clear and unequivocal public duty.

Whatever happens, let us fervently hope and pray that the threat to general health and the risk of loss of life flowing from this government’s incredible irresponsibility is contained to the absolute minimum.

This sort of hyperbole is unwarranted, and in context with what is really happening in the vaccine delivery, a very inaccurate comparison. The government is struggling with the demand, and citizens have a right to get upset and urge a faster response. But this is not a crisis on a level anywhere close to the devastation of Katrina, nor do I think any rhetoric to that effect will have any sway with average Canadians. The comment “laissez-faire” is even reminiscent of Stephane Dion’s attempt to link Stephen Harper with the unrestrained forces of the invisible hand last October when he urged voters not to fall for Mr.Harper’s “laissez-faire I don’t care” attitude.

We should, by all means, continue to watch for signs that the government is stalling in vaccine delivery, but I don’t think we’ll have to wait for very long. The government has a vested interest in responding as quickly and as efficiently as it can on this file, and under the circumstances I think it’s doing a competent job.