Braid: Smith's government mutes vaccine skepticism in face of a measles epidemic
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Then, a welcome surprise. Health Minister Adriana LaGrange endorsed Joffe's column and his views on the virus and vaccination.
Now there's a campaign to ramp up vaccination as well as aggressively promote the shots across all media.
But it took a looming crisis to force the UCP into action. The problem they face is one they helped cause, with their post-COVID anger and questioning of medical science.
It's generally believed that 95 per cent of a population must be vaccinated to eliminate the spread of measles.
By 2023, only about 69 per cent of Alberta children were vaccinated by age two.
Calgary's average was 75 per cent, far below the ideal. And in some northern areas, the vaccination rate was as low as 10 per cent. No area in Alberta met the 95 per cent target.
AHS, bless its troubled heart, has never stopped promoting or supplying vaccines.
But the message from Premier Danielle Smith and her acolytes has been that the vaccine deniers have a point.
Smith has never said people who want vaccinations should be refused a shot. Neither did she tell Albertans they should be vaccinated.
But on Monday, the premier repeated the new slogan, 'Don't get measles. Get vaccinated.'
A premier's words mean something to a great many Albertans.
They heard her vaccination skepticism. Hopefully, they'll now catch her overdue enthusiasm.
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Check completed, she walked back inside, to a vestibule where her partner sat next to the AI-weapon detector. Similar, but smaller than more-familiar metal detectors used in other venues, the equipment is adorned with Shared Health's logo colours of orange, yellow, teal and green. Just beyond it, a metal-detecting wand sits on a desk with a security log book beside it. Signs at the entrance door warn visitors of the security checkpoint ahead. Hammers, guns and knives are not welcome inside but can be stored in provided amnesty lockers. 'Thank you for keeping this facility safe,' the sign states. Nicole BuffieMultimedia producer Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole. Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
