City Notebook: Vaccines? I’m a veteran

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on March 20, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

As far as vaccines go, I doubt anyone got jabbed more than I did in 2017.

It’s all the rage now, of course, for obvious reasons.

Back then though, there were several compounding factors to my experience, not the least of which was I was bitten by a bat.

But, the process was also right around the height of the so-called anti-vax movement.

That coincided, probably not coincidentally, with a re-emergence of cases of whooping cough in southern Alberta.

At the same time, public health officials began really ramping up outreach to parents about long-debunked but enduring stories and chatter on the internet linking vaccines to all sorts of disorders.

I heard all about it in pre-natal courses before the first of my children arrived, five other couples in the room looked at the floor or the roof whenever the topic of vaccines came up.

That’s understandable, I figured.

New parents are filled with doubts to begin with, and what-if-I-do-something-wrong sorts of questions.

It’s not unlike the reasoning many have today, having little else to do but hear constantly about three coronavirus shots developed.

And when in doubt, unfortunately, it seems inaction is the best course of action, or at least a wait-and-see, what could it harm, attitude.

This ironic conclusion was demolished for me shortly after I came in the house one night in 2018 to discover two tiny puncture marks and a blotch of blood on my arm.

I forgot about it for a few days, figuring I’d brushed against a branch.

I realized with a jolt days later that, that it was likely a bite from a bat with teeth so sharp I didn’t feel a thing.

Rabies!

“There’s no Band-Aids for that,” as my dad would say.

So off to the health unit I went with my story, found out I probably didn’t have rabies, but massive amounts of rabies vaccine would make that certain.

Soon two public nurses were simultaneously jabbing both my thighs with large needles, putting their weight behind the plungers.

This happened every Wednesday for a month, and led to a six-day flu-like feeling during a heatwave that would only subside on Tuesday night.

Still, well worth it for piece of mind that I wouldn’t die a horrible death from a preventable disease.

(For the record, Batman was not bitten by a bat in the comic book legend or acquired bat-like power. He was just very smart, inventive and a good athlete, like your author. He was however, rich.)

The other half of the story is that when my kids started getting their shots, there were some questions about my own boosters being up to date, and the records were checked.

I was told my childhood vaccines would have occurred “so very long ago” that such records wouldn’t exist, so I should get boosters to be safe.

(My mom eventually had the card issued by the “Calgary Board of Health” in an old trunk).

Roster moves

Tammy Sweeney, the former general manager of Event Centre in Medicine Hat when it was run by ASM Management, has surfaced as the new CEO of the TCU Centre for performing arts in Saskatoon.

Speaking of rinks though, veteran Western Hockey League observer Greg Drinnan is musing about a potential building boom in Saskatchewan.

A proposal in Prince Albert would include a large rec facility and two-sheet community rink facility. As well, there is renewed talk about a downtown arena and convention centre in Saskatoon. And, there are overtures by Regina Pats ownership about a new rink in the Saskatchewan capital city.

“Are we getting in on this, Swift Current?” Drinnan asks in conclusion.

A look ahead

Cypress County council meets Tuesday to make up for last week’s postponement related to the Rural Municipalities spring conference. More news on the renewable energy front across the region is also due.

100 years ago

“Rainmaker” Charles Hatfield was due in the city on April 15, 1921, according to the head of the United Agricultural Association. The group of local communities would pay the hydrologist $1,000 for each inch of rain that fell in the region this summer above the standing average.

The Alberta legislature balked at providing incorporated society status to “the Temple of Spirituality” debating whether its stated purpose – “to further communications with the dead” – was a proven or valid exercise.

As well, legislators also pushed for Ottawa to finalize a new water rights agreement with Washington on the Milk and St. Mary’s rivers.

The Alberta government would build a 260-foot bridge over the Bow River to connect the provincial sanitarium near the Town of Bowness with the Calgary street car line.

“Half holiday” on Wednesday would be cancelled by city merchants in light of the observance of Good Friday.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com

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