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Edmonton Journal

Saturday's letters: Don't let developers run Edmonton

Article content I was a nurse in training in Vancouver in the 1950s when we had a polio epidemic. The senior student nurses were asked to help with the rapidly increasing patient load, many in iron lungs. We were given the first trial polio vaccines and I don't remember any of us getting infected with the polio virus. In a few years, they had the polio vaccine ready for the public. There has not been a polio epidemic since then. Article content Vaccines are a valuable tool in the protection against so many diseases. Please get medically qualified people in this province to assist in making intelligent decisions. Article content The UCP's anti-vax rhetoric has had dire consequences for Albertans. Excluding Ontario, Alberta has over four times more measles cases than all the other provinces and territories combined. We lead Canada in per-capita infections, much as we did during the COVID pandemic. Article content Article content Learning nothing from this, the UCP now plans to make COVID vaccines expensive and much more difficult to access. Seniors, those most vulnerable to COVID, will be severely jeopardized by this reckless decision. Article content Since August 2024, 80 per cent of the 3,094 hospitalizations and 95 per cent of the 369 COVID deaths have been seniors. These numbers will grow as more seniors, particularly those with fixed incomes or mobility problems, will be discouraged from protecting themselves with a COVID shot. Article content Provincial doctors and nurses have implored the government to reverse course, but sadly in Alberta, health-care policy is determined by UCP ideologues rather than medical experts. Article content I can't help but laugh at seeing our esteemed council struggle with removing cars from the street for plowing, while at the same time pouring hundreds more cars on the road through infilling. Article content Article content Robin Vogelesang, Edmonton Article content What I don't get is the constant whining about what Quebec 'gets.' Any way you look at it, we get, and have gotten, more than anybody in this beloved country. Want to have what Quebec has? Then go there and live. How many Albertans want to be like Quebecers? Not me. Article content Phyllis Elmer, Vermilion Article content