Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have more questions to follow up on the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta on the measles situation. I'd like to ask the Minister: aside from the 1970s thing, how would an individual know if they have been vaccinated or not? Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. An individual's health records will identify when they were vaccinated and whether they actually received the two doses of vaccination. We strongly encourage anybody who doesn't know to get in touch with their healthcare system or the public health team, who will be able to verify your current status with respect to immunizations; for any immunizations, not just for the measles vaccine. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What is the difference? What happened in 1970 that changed? Did they eradicate measles in 1970 and stop vaccinating people? I'm asking for an explanation from the Minister on that, please.
In 1970 the vaccine was developed and started to be administered to citizens across this country.
Then is the Minister telling me that, prior to 1970, there was no vaccination, so people born prior to 1970 were not vaccinated?
Unless somebody chose to pursue a vaccination afterwards, the answer is yes, you weren't vaccinated prior to 1970, because the vaccine wasn't really there. One of the challenges we had is measles is highly contagious; like, crazy, crazy, super contagious. It spreads very easily. The other challenge is, prior to the vaccine being available, the fatality rate of measles was about one in a thousand individuals who contracted the disease. When you say one in a thousand, it doesn't sound that high, but statistically that is a huge number of individuals dying as a result of measles. Since the vaccine has come in, measles in this country was all but eliminated, except for a few isolated incidents. Now that there is a movement by many people to not get vaccinated, we're seeing these things come back.
Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister if there would be any harm in being vaccinated if you've already been vaccinated and are not aware of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I don't actually know the answer to that. I'm happy to follow up with some medical professionals who would certainly be able to answer that question in an appropriate way. I'd hate to speculate one way or another and give false information. I will get that information for the Member.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
