After you; I insist

Doubting Thomas -

Health Minister Jerome Kennedy was catching flak last week over his decision to go against Health Canada's suggestions and make seniors next on the H1N1 vaccination priority list.

Minister Kennedy said he would not accept the vaccination before his 72-year-old mother, and that was why he was going against the advice of Health Canada experts.

What's that you say? Our provincial minister is questioning Ottawa? He's not blindly following their advice like an automaton but instead making a decision based on personal experience and values? The nerve! Value judgments have no place in government!

In one news report, a medical ethicist from Memorial University suggested Minister Kennedy was going after the senior vote in his decision. If you saw the minister's red and puffy eyes at a recent press conference regarding the seventh H1N1 death, you would probably disagree with this suggestion. Those weren't crocodile tears.

The ethicists also argued that because seniors over 65 may have some immunity to this strain of flu, we would be wasting our supply by vaccinating the elderly.

Ironically, one of the next news stories in this same newscast was of a 77-year-old who died after being turned away from a hospital with H1N1 symptoms.

Here's a rational counter-argument to the ethicist's argument. Many medical officials have told us to treat H1N1 like any other flu. On that basis alone, the elderly should be next in line. It is almost exclusively the elderly who get the regular seasonal flu shot.

As for wasting our supply of vaccine, I would argue that even if a dose of vaccine provides a senior with nothing more than peace of mind, it is not wasted.

But a rational argument is not needed in this case. The minister's value-based judgment was perfectly valid. Is there any adult in this province who wouldn't let a senior go before them while waiting in line for the vaccination?

Most government decisions are based on more than just blind numbers or so-called 'expert advice.' If you are going to make a decision, there are worse things on which to base it than our shared values as a society.

reporter@gulfnews.ca