CollingwoodToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via our website. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is an open letter to Sylvia Jones, Ontario's minister of health, in response eligibility for the publicly funded RSV vaccine.
As a relatively young senior, I am anxious to receive my vaccinations against COVID and the Flu, but increasingly RSV. All three of these illnesses caused a crisis in our health-care system last year and are on track to cause another spike in hospital emergency visits and admissions this year.
I already know three seniors who have picked up either COVID or RSV in the past three weeks, who have made trips to doctor's offices, and/or emergency rooms and who have also received x-rays to check for pneumonia. Clearly, the "season" is already here.
COVID and flu shots will be rolling out to the general public "soon" and provided free of charge, but RSV shots will not be publicly funded except for those seniors in congregate settings, and this, I believe, is a major failing in preventative medicine by the Ministry of Health.
As evident by comparing uptake of shingles and pneumococcal pneumonia vaccines between provinces where it is publicly funded vs. privately, research has shown that it is more likely to happen when funded.
Aside from an affordability factor, which is an increasing concern, the perception seems to be that if it were really important to get the shot, the government would fund it. Failing to make RSV shots publicly available sends the message that it's not that serious, while at the same time, puts seniors at risk, contributes to the strain on our already heavily burdened health care system as well as facilitate spread of the virus among the general population
I strongly urge the Ministry to fund RSV vaccinations for all those who are willing to receive the shot. Money spent on prevention is infinitely cheaper than paying for doctor and hospital visits or admissions.
Debbie Palmer
Oro-Medonte
