(Friday, November 6)

Once upon a time, Ontario's medical experts were worried that they would have more supply than demand for the H1N1 vaccine — that the public would think about the swine flu as no big deal.

But not any more.

Throw a picture of a healthy, 13-year-old hockey player on the front page — a kid now dead from the swine flu — and you have your poster for how unwise it is not to get the flu shot.

Then comes this from Dr. Richard Schabas, Ontario's former medical officer of health, telling us the H1N1 vaccine now percolating through many of us should have been administered six weeks ago.

Make that seven, as of today.

Why? Because by the time we got ourselves vaccinated — if you have got yourself vaccinated, that is — the flu will have already peaked and done its damage before the serum ever kicks in.

And all this was coming out at the very same time Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was urging us all to wait our proper turn for the vaccine, and not to throw ourselves into a state of panic.

Well, a dead 13-year-old on the front page can cause panic, especially among parents.

Hence, the few flu clinics open on Week 1 were being swamped, and triage units, too.

Johnny with the sniffles was suddenly Johnny on death's door.

Where are the lessons learned from the SARS outbreak?

On a shelf?

Gathering dust?