Flu Shots for Big Shots

Apologies for my absence from Defending Champions in the past couple of weeks - school's been a grind!

Okay, back to it:  It's official, we have a full-blown influenza pandemic on our hands, what with the H1N1 flu virus descending upon us globally. Ever since SARS, scientists have been warning us about the potential of a virus such as H1N1.

This year, it finally began in Mexico City, when the Mexican government stalled on banning travel in and out of the country - most likely for fears it would devastate tourism in the Latin American destination, which it did.  I should know myself, being one of the people who CHOSE to reschedule my vacation back in May.  If I wanted to, my girlfriend and I could have stayed the course and visited Diego Rivera's murals with a face mask on. I'm serious, an Aeromexico flight official told me there was no problem at all in the Distrito Federal (Mexico City) and that their government had not issued any warning; all this while the World Health Organization was raising the H1N1 influenza pandemic in Mexico City to a phase 6 - its highest stage. As a result, the virus is spreading all over the globe, from the Ukraine all the way to Western Canada, where 20 people have died from H1N1 in Alberta alone.

To make matters worse, people are now fighting over the vaccine, which is in short supply, since our imbecilic Harper-led government was caught flat footed on this one.  Still, it's nice to know that the Calgary Flames' entire hockey organization, as well as their families, secretly budded the long vaccination lines this past week.  So when fellow Calgarians suffering from H1N1 are watching TV from their hospital beds, they can count on the Flames being on Sportsnet West.  That's real Canadiana for you!

 

Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen celebrate after getting vaccinated.

This is appalling and there's no way around it.  And it has to be embarrassing for the Flames, since the Alberta health authority has fired both officials responsible for this covert operation once news broke of it earlier this week.  The matter is now considered 'closed', but this is simply another example of the growing divide between the 'haves' and 'have-nots'.  Sure, athletes at the front line for surgeries, MRIs, and X-Rays is nothing new.  But to cut a vaccination line WITH YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY in the midst of a full blown influenza epidemic, in which every Canadian citizen is at risk, is downright ignorant.  Most of all, it is just another example of wealthy Big Shots bending the rules. Ugh.

Defender Telegraph, page 2, No. 001