Dear Health Canada,

Thanks so much for the lovely invitation to your H1N1 vaccination party. I was particularly impressed with the effort you made to present collateral materials that were bright and upbeat, making appropriate use of white space and the "trust colour" blue. I noticed that you went to great pains to ensure that your online invitation mirrored the very expensive, 4 colour heavy card stock direct mail invitation. I certainly appreciate the elaborate planning and expense that went into issuing the invitation as well as the great pains you obviously took to engage the media in your mission to ensure that we were all aware of the potential severity of the virus.


Regretfully, I must decline your invitation due to poor health. It seems that I, and two of my three children, have contracted the dreaded virus. Both children weathered the illness with no serious consequence, though thanks to your very persistent communication plan, I was well aware of how the virus can take a dire and deadly turn. Between bouts of my own fever induced delirium, I held an anxious vigil over my children, alert for signs that their condition would require medical help. Of course, parents are discouraged from bringing their children into medical facilities if they suspect that their children have H1N1, so having been given a plethora of information on what could go wrong, in the end, we could only rely on our own judgment. Never mind, most individuals who have contracted the virus (and there do seem to be quite a lot of us ) have muddled through.

Perhaps if you had held your party earlier, more of us could have attended. I received your message that you had to postpone the event due to inadequate supplies although I later heard that a number of very important people such as hockey players, celebrities, and wealthy hospital patrons are now well vaccinated, so I suppose you must have sorted that out. Such a pity that when you did have supplies on hand, the invitations to the rest of us were lost in the mail.

Once again, thanks for thinking of my family. We would so have enjoyed standing in line for hours at a local makeshift clinic, listening to crying babies and disgruntled neighbors, wondering if the supplies would run out before our turn came. Ah well, perhaps next time! Do let us know if typhoid, ebola, or smallpox comes to town, won't you?

All the Best,

Amanda