"Free" swine flu shots for all....

We've written about this before...socialized medicine is not as bad as certain US talk show jerks pundits might rant about on a daily basis. It's certainly not perfect. But overall, we have no complaints. It's good to know it's there. Everyone has access to healthcare here. And access to the swine flu vaccine.  For free.


Today the kids got their H1N1 shots. The process was simple for the most part. The government (yes, the government controlled healthcare system) announced the different populations available for the vaccine last week. They were ahead of schedule this week so our kids were eligible since they both have asthma. I picked up a "ticket" this morning with the time I requested, 5:30 pm, and returned at that time. We were assigned numbers after the kids were qualified and waited about an hour until our name was called. We then went to another room for registration where we supplied our medicare card, filled out a simple form in another room and then went to yet another room for the actual shots. We were then directed to the last room where the kids had to wait 15 minutes to make sure there were no reactions. All said, it was an hour and half and painless, sort of. And no bill since the entire program is part of our medicare (and taxes).


Because the medicare cards were presented and entered into the computer, the government knows exactly who received the vaccine. The thought did occur to me that wouldn't the government be annoyed if someone declined receiving the vaccine and later ended up in hospital due to complications? Especially when the vaccine was free and available to all residents in Canada? Most people I know are going to get the vaccine when it's their turn, myself included. I don't know of any Canadians listening to that crazy, irrational, crybaby, insane Beck on Fox news and his theories. 


The video below was from The Rick Mercer report last week...of course the vaccine program had a few glitches, as could be expected, the first week. 



We did get a laugh out of this sign on the door when we left...clearly it was a French speaking person making the translation.