Yellowknife (Feb 18/04) - Fear is present in the depths of everyone's character.

Just uttering the word dentist sends shivers down some people's spines. Others faint at the sight of a spider or a snake.

Holly Cleary, Grade 10 at Sir John Franklin high school, doesn't look too worried about getting vaccinated against meningitis, Monday. - Miranda Booth/NNSL photo

At Sir John, it's time to bring out the straightjackets and prepare for the worst because the needles are here and someone is bound to go insane.

It's hard to believe that getting one vaccine that will prevent you from contracting meningitis for the rest of your life is a scary thing.

Especially because the deadly disease involves inflammation of the meninges -- which cover the brain and the spinal cord -- due to bacterial or viral infection.

Somehow people can still say that their number one fear is getting a needle, which means that illness and death must be second to that.

I spoke to Grade 12 student A.J. McCready, who has a habit of fainting when he gets a needle.

A.J. said that he doesn't actually fear the process, but somehow (maybe it's something in his subconscious) he always ends up confused and face down on the floor.

He has some advice for the those who really are frightened of injections: "People shouldn't be afraid of needles, because at some point in their life they'll most likely be hooked up to the old I.V."

A.J. is a very optimistic person.

Inoculations started Monday at Sir John, and the worst is all over for St. Pat's. They had theirs last week.

The vaccination program is taking place because of reported cases of type C meningitis and one teen death in Fort Good Hope.

A whopping 1,300 high school students in the NWT will be immunized over the next two weeks, followed by the younger students.

More good news for Grade 9s -- they can choose to also be immunized against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

Some advice from writer/philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson is: "Do the thing we fear and death of fear is certain."

I'm sure he also meant to add "death of meningitis."