Who's Responsible for the Flu Vaccine Crisis?

Ok, when the news of the flu vaccine shortage first broke, I just thought it was a huge crying shame, but wasn't overly concerned. When the flu vaccine question was asked during the third presidential debate, I thought it was an odd curveball that shouldn't have been asked, but now I'm not so sure. I'm not saying that I think the federal government is accountable for the situation that allows this to happen, but given the way this whole thing has broken out into a more complex situation of extortion, theft, and a greater shortage than originally reported, there's clearly a breakdown in the system at some level, but where?

There's stories going around that hospitals don't even have enough flu vaccine to cover their medical staff. As a former healthcare worker, I can definitely say that's bad.

I think the government should be held accountable for not regulating something as important as flu vaccine. It was clear last year that there were some very big problems in how the vaccine was being produced and distributed, and it was causing panic in some states, yet absolutely nothing was done about it at the federal level to correct the situation.

Hundreds of people may die this year (particularly the young, the elderly, and the sick - including members of my family). We need a non-profit institution with the good of the public at heart (which, in theory, is the US Government) to step in and show some leadership, because it is clear that for-profit ventures in this area are not effective.

A flu epidemic may have major economic and public health consequences for our country. I blame the Bush administration for its policies which allow large corporations to decide life and death issues based on profit margins.

They were covering this on NPR this morning and I guess other people have been wondering the same thing. Their guest commentator panned both Bush and Kerry's claims on the reason why this happened. He said it was because flu vaccines are such a risky financial move for drug companies since the vaccines are good for only one year. I think there's only two major providers of the flu vaccine. His suggestion was for the federal government to do a better job of promoting flu vaccinations so that the companies producing them don't see it as such a dangerous venture.

Kerry proposes that the government issue a compensation program to the companies who lose money producing the vaccine. That may be worthwhile...dunno, but it sounds better than the Bush suggestion that the reason why more companies don't produce the vaccine is because they're afraid of being sued.

What in the world did we do BEFORE the flu vaccine? I mean, it's not like this has been around forever. And what most people are thinking when they think "flu" is not actually "influenza," plenty of people go all winter occasionally sick but not exposed to the actual influenza virus. And the vaccine is short-lived, only covers a few strains and doesn't protect anyone from being a carrier of the virus.

Look at the CDC statistics, basically, infants to 4 years of age and those 65 and older are at greatest risk, plus, of course, people whose immune systems are weakened already due to AIDS, etc. and health care workers who are exposed to the sickest people every day they go to work. You have to wonder if healthy low-risk adults getting yearly flu shots doesn't put us all at more risk of stronger strains in the future, the way we are figuring out antibiotics in healthy chickens and cows is a dangerous practice.

The media IS making a big deal about this, but honestly, it sounds like they are complaining on behalf of themselves, healthyish 40-something males, not on behalf of those who are genuinely at risk of benig exposed to influenza at a nursing home, or a hospital, etc. The flu shot isn't going to prevent the inconvenience of mind-numbing, 3 week long head colds, nor food poisoning, nor what we often refer to as the "24-hour bug." For the media's part, I think it's just another scary story. For healthy 30-somethings fighting truly at-risk people for rationed shots so they don't have to be inconvenienced by being actually sick on a sick day, I think it's unconscionable. But you're right, Shelden, if we are going to help the very young and the very old, there have to be incentives for drug companies to take the risk.

For everyone else, whether it's the flu, the FLU, or a head cold, the best prevention is adequate hydration EVERY day and 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days a week. Nothing else, not even echinacea, can provide the immunity supercharge of that combination.

O.k., you're right Pamzella - the media is blowing this way out of proportion. Most healthy middle-aged folks do just fine when they get hit with the flu, it's just the young, the old, and the ill who are in danger.

I like Kerry's proposal, because it's a middle-of-the-road solution that gets the government involved in making things work better, instead of letting things continue as they are (since that's clearly not working well right now). It also doesn't require more infrastructure than what's already in place.

The people trying to sell the vaccine at spiked prices definitely need to be dealt with. I propose death by spamming.

A physician friend of mine once explained to me how the flu vaccines are created. Its been a while since I read up on this, so if anyone out there has an MPH, feel free to correct me.

They have to monitor outbreaks of the flu around the world and determine the most dominant strains before they break out into the mainstream population. The mutated strains often originate in places where people have close contact with wild animals. A frequent culprit are the marshy villages of China. The areas where they start are remote, but not isolated so it's only a matter of time before travelers and modern transportation gives the gift of flu to the whole world.

That takes some time and while it's starting to spread, they're making decisions on which strains to protect against. Some years they get it completely wrong and even in the best of scenarios they never can protect against every strain of flu that you can catch.

The New York Times has just posted a very interesting editorial online regarding the flu vaccine situation (it will be available to read in its entirety online for the next 7 days). If I may quote it here:

"Underlying this crisis is the increasing fragility of the vaccine manufacturing base. This may be mostly an American problem rather than a global problem. There are six major manufacturers in the world who produced some 200 million doses for other nations this year, but only two of them are licensed to produce the 100 million doses of injectable vaccine for this country. The British coped with the loss of Chiron's vaccine far better than the United States, mostly because they order far less vaccine and have a diversity of suppliers that can fill in if one company falters."

You can find the full text at the following link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/opinion/...l?oref=login&hp

There is no flu vaccine crisis. This country controls everyone with FEAR. Look at every political incident and they get buy-in by using FEAR. I urge everyonen to research the flu vaccine. The flu goes around every year, regardless. It will never be eradicated. They call it the "flu" to make it sound extra serious when it's a normal thing, cold, vomitting, etc. Your body is your best defense and creates its own anti-bodies. Getting a vaccine for the flu only protects you against that particular strain that was the prior year's strain. However, the flu virus mutates every year so the vaccine you get will not protect you. In fact, most people I know who have gotten the flu vaccine end up GETTING the flu. I don't believe in the flu vaccine and my family has been quite healthy all these years. Plus we eat healthy foods and don't take a lot of unnecessary medications or pain killers.