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Editorial: So now you care about vaccines - What changed?

While a minority of British Columbians had their doubts about vaccines, the spread of COVID-19 has garnered loud calls for the quick development of a vaccine
Vaccines in B.C. more important since pandemic.

Not long ago, the efficacy and safety of vaccines was being questioned and thousands of B.C. school children didn’t have all their shots.

It was only last April — remember those halcyon days before COVID-19? — when Coquitlam residents were being warned that someone with measles had been frequenting a local hotel, mall and restaurant. A measles alert was also sent out for people who used SkyTrain and buses, and it was revealed that there were outbreaks of the disease.

Consequently, a new vaccine policy was implemented and make-up vaccine clinics were established for B.C. school children, including kids in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody.

This measles scare happened at a time when it was reported that nearly a quarter of B.C. residents had doubts about the effectiveness of vaccines. Remember those days?

Now, a vaccine for COVID-19 can’t come fast enough. 

The concern is that while we wait for one to be created and tested, the economy will be devastated because of the need to physically distance to avoid the spread of disease.

Vaccines, once considered questionable by a minority, are now being seen as a saviour by the vast majority, although now it seems the demand is being created by fears of economic devastation rather than sensible health policy.

This isn’t the first infectious disease to affect world populations and it won’t be the last.

Millions died from the 1918 Spanish Flu. Even in Canada, people died, approximately 55,000 and most of those between the ages of 20 and 40.

Many might remember how polio devastated Canadian children, including those in B.C., in the late 1950s. Scarlet fever was another devastating illness, and children growing up in pre-vaccine eras suffered greatly — and quarantining then, as now, was critical to stopping the spread of disease.

Now, children can get vaccinated against many of these childhood diseases and a link on the BC Disease Control website show that between birth and six years of age, parents are offered free vaccines to protect their children against 14 different diseases.

As yet, free flu vaccines aren’t commonly available except for certain vulnerable groups. After this pandemic is over, hopefully that policy changes.

History has shown us that vaccines help control infectious diseases, and the sooner we can get one for COVID-19, the better.