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We still get hepatitis outbreaks here in Canada despite our universal healthcare. Universal healthcare does not automatically solve the problem of getting vacci

We still get hepatitis outbreaks here in Canada despite our universal healthcare. Universal healthcare does not automatically solve the problem of getting vaccinations to vulnerable populations or prioritizing the right interventions at the right time given limited resources. Maybe our situation is better here in this regard, I don't know the statistics, but it's demonstrably false that universal healthcare automatically prevents hepatitis outbreaks.

guelo 9y ago
For whatever reason Canada doesn't require childhood HepA vaccinations, though they could.
javajocky 9y ago
I have no idea why you're getting downvoted for stating facts, and not in an argumentative or derogatory way. You're stating the truth, perhaps one people don't want to hear, but it's immature for them to downvote you.
- xiaoma 9y ago
  It's the same reason people try to get each other fired, "deplatformed" or ostracized for off-handed remarks, relatively mainstream opinions or even for supporting the wrong side of a divisive issue years in the past. People are very tribal, the Anglosphere is highly politicized and it's a lot easier to make a snap judgment and label someone as part of an enemy tribe than it is to deal with nuanced statements.
- sctb 9y ago
  Votes take a little while to stabilize and commenting about them just adds agitation, so the guidelines ask you to please not: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Some people might not vaccinate their kids for dumber reasons than not having insurance.
- mattnewport 9y ago
  Part of my point was that the homeless are a particularly difficult population to reach with health interventions like vaccinations even with universal healthcare.
- coldtea 9y ago
  Some people might do so if the alternative is going to jail.
ethnic_throw 9y ago
So I take it you implicitly agree with the original article's thesis?
- mattnewport 9y ago
  I think the original article makes a plausible case that the plastic bag ban was a contributing factor to this outbreak. That's irrelevant to the point I was making in the comment however.
coldtea 9y ago
>Universal healthcare does not automatically solve the problem of getting vaccinations to vulnerable populations A well functioning society, where people don't live like dogs in the street, does. >or prioritizing the right interventions at the right time given limited resources. I doubt nations that can spend billions on pet food have "limited resources" for things as insignificant budget-wise as hep vaccines.
- mattnewport 9y ago
  > A well functioning society, where people don't live like dogs in the street, does. I guess I've never lived in or visited a well functioning society then. I have lived in two countries with universal healthcare and visited many more and they all have homeless populations living on the streets. Whether they live "like dogs" would be a subjective call I guess. I don't think you understand the term 'limited resources'. The opposite would be 'unlimited resources', not 'a different allocation of limited resources than I would prefer'.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    >I don't think you understand the term 'limited resources'. The opposite would be 'unlimited resources', not 'a different allocation of limited resources than I would prefer'. Then you maybe don't understand that it doesn't take "unlimited resources" to vaccinate people, and that not all "allocations of limited resources" make sense or are to be respected or are inevitable like the laws of physics. Like one can't use the excuse that they have "limited resources" for feeding themselves if at the same time they spend 10 times the money in trivial BS like fancy clothes or the latest and greatest smartphone -- they'd be (rightly) laughed off. Sure, they can spend their money wherever they want (it's a free country, after all) -- they just don't get to invoke "limited resources" afterwards as the reason they didn't do something that should have gotten a much bigger priority. The same goes for societies. They can opt not to vaccinate people, but unless they are some dead poor developing world country, they don't get to use "limited resources" as the reason for doing so. Twisted sense of priorities would be a much better fit.

guelo 9y ago

For whatever reason Canada doesn't require childhood HepA vaccinations, though they could.

javajocky 9y ago

I have no idea why you're getting downvoted for stating facts, and not in an argumentative or derogatory way. You're stating the truth, perhaps one people don't want to hear, but it's immature for them to downvote you.

xiaoma 9y ago
It's the same reason people try to get each other fired, "deplatformed" or ostracized for off-handed remarks, relatively mainstream opinions or even for supporting the wrong side of a divisive issue years in the past. People are very tribal, the Anglosphere is highly politicized and it's a lot easier to make a snap judgment and label someone as part of an enemy tribe than it is to deal with nuanced statements.
sctb 9y ago
Votes take a little while to stabilize and commenting about them just adds agitation, so the guidelines ask you to please not: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago

Some people might not vaccinate their kids for dumber reasons than not having insurance.

mattnewport 9y ago
Part of my point was that the homeless are a particularly difficult population to reach with health interventions like vaccinations even with universal healthcare.
coldtea 9y ago
Some people might do so if the alternative is going to jail.

ethnic_throw 9y ago

So I take it you implicitly agree with the original article's thesis?

mattnewport 9y ago
I think the original article makes a plausible case that the plastic bag ban was a contributing factor to this outbreak. That's irrelevant to the point I was making in the comment however.

coldtea 9y ago

>Universal healthcare does not automatically solve the problem of getting vaccinations to vulnerable populations A well functioning society, where people don't live like dogs in the street, does. >or prioritizing the right interventions at the right time given limited resources. I doubt nations that can spend billions on pet food have "limited resources" for things as insignificant budget-wise as hep vaccines.

mattnewport 9y ago
> A well functioning society, where people don't live like dogs in the street, does. I guess I've never lived in or visited a well functioning society then. I have lived in two countries with universal healthcare and visited many more and they all have homeless populations living on the streets. Whether they live "like dogs" would be a subjective call I guess. I don't think you understand the term 'limited resources'. The opposite would be 'unlimited resources', not 'a different allocation of limited resources than I would prefer'.
- coldtea 9y ago
  >I don't think you understand the term 'limited resources'. The opposite would be 'unlimited resources', not 'a different allocation of limited resources than I would prefer'. Then you maybe don't understand that it doesn't take "unlimited resources" to vaccinate people, and that not all "allocations of limited resources" make sense or are to be respected or are inevitable like the laws of physics. Like one can't use the excuse that they have "limited resources" for feeding themselves if at the same time they spend 10 times the money in trivial BS like fancy clothes or the latest and greatest smartphone -- they'd be (rightly) laughed off. Sure, they can spend their money wherever they want (it's a free country, after all) -- they just don't get to invoke "limited resources" afterwards as the reason they didn't do something that should have gotten a much bigger priority. The same goes for societies. They can opt not to vaccinate people, but unless they are some dead poor developing world country, they don't get to use "limited resources" as the reason for doing so. Twisted sense of priorities would be a much better fit.