From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
   CBC News Posted: Jun 09, 2015   
      
      
   Mandatory childhood vaccinations supported by majority in B.C. and Alberta:   
   poll   
      
   Just 1 in 5 survey respondents said parents should have a say in whether their   
   kids are vaccinated   
      
      
   A majority of people in B.C. and Alberta think childhood vaccinations should   
   be mandatory, and not decided by parents, according to a new poll by Insights   
   West.   
      
   In British Columbia, 78 per cent of survey respondents supported mandatory   
   vaccines for childhood diseases such as polio and measles in the online poll.   
   Alberta respondents showed 73 per cent support.   
      
   Mario Canseco of Insights West said he found the widespread support   
   interesting, given how divisive the vaccination issue has been in the media.   
      
   "It's pretty hard to get seven out of 10 residents in the western provinces to   
   say we agree with something, we tend to be very different."   
      
   Only about one in five respondents said they thought parents should be the   
   ones deciding whether their kids are vaccinated.   
      
   "There's this minority that seems to believe there's something wrong with the   
   vaccinations and that it should be left to the parents to decide whether they   
   want to do it or not," said Canseco.   
      
   In the Vancouver area, about 73 per cent of schoolchildren have their   
   recommended immunizations, but in several schools, less than half of   
   kindergarten students have been vaccinated for measles.   
      
   B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake has dismissed the idea of mandatory   
   vaccination, saying the requirement doesn't increase immunization rates.   
      
      
   Little support for mandatory flu vaccine   
      
   The flu vaccine did not get the same widespread support in the poll as   
   childhood immunizations for measles and polio.   
      
   When asked whether "everybody" in the province should have to get a flu shot,   
   just 19 per cent of British Columbians and 21 per cent of Albertans agreed.   
      
   The flu vaccine is recommended by health officials, especially for vulnerable   
   people and those who care for them, but varies year to year in how well it   
   works.   
      
   Last winter, it gave "no protection," due to a mismatch between circulating   
   strains of the flu and what was in the vaccine, according to a study from the   
   B.C. Centre for Disease Control.   
      
   The Insights West poll also found a small minority -- less than five per cent   
   -- of respondents believed the debunked claim of a link between autism and   
   childhood vaccines, which was promoted by a fraudulent and now-retracted 1998   
   study.   
      
   The poll surveyed 814 adult British Columbians from May 7-9 and 801 adult   
   Albertans from May 1-3, 2015.   
      
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