UCP gov’t approach to vaccination is dangerous
By Lethbridge Herald on June 24, 2025.
Editor,
An open letter to Adriana LaGrange:
I am writing to let you know of my deep disappointment in your recent decision to restrict the availability of COVID vaccines for Albertans in the autumn of 2025 by charging the cost to individuals. This is an extremely dangerous, unprecedented, and ill-advised step to take, and I strongly urge you to reconsider.
You cite the issue of “wasted” vaccine doses as your rationale, based on the decisions of a foreign agency, the US Food and Drug Administration. It is imperative that you instead listen to the sound recommendations of NACI, our own Canadian experts.
I am a Public Health Nurse with more than 42 years of service to Albertans, and I provide vaccines all day, every day. I regularly speak to people who lack evidence-informed knowledge about vaccines and the diseases they prevent. When I offer current and accurate information, they wonder why they have not heard the same in the wider media. An excellent question!
I wonder if you have sought possible explanations for the unused doses, and if the lack of strong, consistent, and persistent encouragement from our public health and government leaders strikes you as one component of the problem. Disinformation and misinformation need to be proactively countered with accurate, scientific evidence that assures our citizens of the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. I cannot overstate this need.
Furthermore, a basic principle of public health is that not only does correct and current information need to be provided with authentic enthusiasm by respected leaders, but the product must be made easily available, to everyone, regardless of where they live, study, and work. We all must be reminded frequently that with vaccine, we protect one another, not just the individual to whom it is administered. This concept of community immunity is essential and should be an oft-repeated focus of our decision-makers and leaders.
We need our citizens to know that government leaders, especially those with no formal education, training, or experience in public health, have full confidence in the experts standing in front of the cameras. Yes, they should be in front of the cameras. We need to see you acknowledge that the scientists who work for the government, and their colleagues in practice, research, and education, are excellent sources of information about the safety, importance, and efficacy of the vaccine. I can promise you that government members will enjoy much more respect from the public when we can see that you trust your appointed experts to share the evidence, offer the education, and explain their decisions based on sound science.
Setting restrictions around who can easily access the vaccine, by charging for it and limiting the community settings where it will be provided, will directly and negatively affect the health of Albertans. I am sure that as the Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services, you are very familiar with the principles that guide all practitioners and advocates of comprehensive public health policy. I am equally sure that you know what the likely outcomes will be, when your policies force Albertans to make decisions that do not prioritize vaccine uptake because of limited resources and competing demands.
Furthermore, you must know what will happen in the acute care setting when significant numbers of unimmunized people become critically ill—a certain result of low vaccine rates. Indeed, we are in the midst of such a scenario right now with the widespread measles outbreak, and we recently experienced a similar situation during the COVID pandemic. Surely, you do not want to create an environment that will facilitate a repeat (or continuation) of such a dreadful disaster?
I strongly urge you to reconsider its approach to the health care crisis that will undoubtedly follow the limiting of COVID vaccine availability. The dollars and trauma you save by offering the vaccine widely will more than offset the cost of the vaccine.
Please demonstrate the courage and leadership that Albertans need at this critical juncture and make the vaccine—all vaccines—an easy choice for all who live in this province.
Jean Harrowing
Lethbridge
15-14
Hear! Hear!