If provincial health authorities are serious about encouraging seniors to get the best flu vaccine available for them, they have a strange way of showing it.
I got my annual flu shot at a local pharmacy. Being a senior, I asked why I was not going to receive the vaccine intended for those 65 and over, which is apparently twice as strong as the regular one. I was told that, instead of being covered by our health insurance, the double-strength vaccine would cost recipients an out-of-pocket expense of $75.
Say what?
Seniors are more at risk from flu because they could have compromised immune systems. They likely make up a large number of those who die every year from the flu. I assume that鈥檚 why there鈥檚 a double-strength vaccine for seniors, since the risks from flu are higher for them. Yet they鈥檙e also less likely to have the spare $75 being charged, meaning many seniors will be unable to afford the extra protection recommended for them.
Doesn鈥檛 it seem self-defeating, from a public-health standpoint, to charge people most at-risk from the flu a user fee for the extra protection developed for them, while not charging anything for a regular flu shot? Our health authorities should eliminate this extra charge immediately, to ensure that those who need the extra-strength flu shot can afford to get it.
Kevin Bishop
Saanich
