The Great Divide
Once again, the brilliance of Singaporeans with access to the internet and the leisure to make snide comments astounds me. This time, it's in reference to the H1N1 vaccine that will soon be available in Singapore.
Mordeth feels that a supply such that only "1 out of 5 people gets the vaccine shots" is insufficient; in fact, he and his wife were "amused that the Health Minister says that 1 mil shot is enough for a 4.8 mil population in the news yesterday". He also suggests that the Health Minister "personally feels" that this is enough because the poor "can wait for assistance till the new order comes in another month".
Dearest darling Mordeth, has it occurred to you that people who can well afford the vaccine may not feel the need to get it? The price of $29 is now out (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_447745.html). Let's take a look at the people who are able to take out $29 from their monthly salary/pocket money/money earned from investments etc. Will every single one of them feel the need to queue up to get the H1N1 flu vaccine? Will all of them have the TIME to do so? The mortality rate for H1N1 flu isn't that high; coupled with the fact that you may NOT get H1N1 flu, there will definitely be some who do not feel a great urge to get the vaccine even though they can well afford to do so.
Then of course, there are those who are resistant to treatment by modern medicines. And those who believe they are healthy enough, those that believe they will not fall ill, and will definitely not die if they are unlucky enough to contract H1N1.
Oh yes, my brother is alive and well after contracting H1N1. He's a doctor though, so I guess if he hadn't contracted it already, he may be vaccinated as a matter of procedure.
Many working professionals have not bought proper life insurance. To ensure that they and/or their families will have the ability to survive should anything untoward occur. Mordeth, are you so sure these people clamour for the vaccine, making 1 million shots insufficient?
Anyway, just in case you were thinking of taking a cheap shot, I earn enough to purchase the vaccine. And I'm not getting it just because I'm afraid of needles or some nonsense like that. I'm a regular blood donor with a card to prove it. I simply do not feel the need to, you know, give up my offday to queue at a polyclinic. (I do have life insurance though.)
The opinion of Orangemonster is, to say the least, amusing. "Further proof of the inevitable social divide. Those that can afford it will get the H1N1 vaccine. Those that are poor, the free treatment is, to get infected and develope natural immunity thereafter."
Those that can afford it CAN, not WILL, get the H1N1 vaccine. And is there anything wrong with building up natural immunity, which isn't exactly a form of TREATMENT?
It appears that the majority of the people commenting believe that H1N1 is a deadly strain. And possibly that it is extremely easy to be infected by said strain.
But the winning comment comes from Anlibeth2000:
"The minister said that they will subsidise the needy if there is a need to. To get the subsidies you need to made an appointment to see a counseller that would takes at least 2 months. The needy patient would probably have died if they will to wait for the subsidies to be approved."
Anlibeth2000, do you know that you need to be infected by the virus before there is even a possibility of you dying from it? Are you suggesting that everyone will be infected? Also, what about the rich people who have to wait for the vaccine to be imported to Singapore? Will they die while waiting too?
Possibly, of course, Anlibeth2000 was talking about the needy patient dying of the WAIT. In which case, I do agree. The tension, boredom and stress experienced during a wait can DEFNITELY kill.
posted by Shelly at 1:02 AM
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