Posted on 10/10/2004 9:02:30 AM PDT by ml/nj
Why on earth does the U.S. get virtually all of its flu vaccine supply from just two manufacturers? Because only a handful of companies make vaccines for the U.S. market. And why is that? Because federal bulk purchase of vaccines at government-controlled prices has made the U.S. vaccine market a market that few drug companies want to be in.
Henry Miller said it well at a Manhattan Institute conference two years ago:
Why have we seen vaccine development fall into such disfavor? The short answer is low return on investment and exposure to legal liability. And the reason for those factors is a flawed public policy. For example, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the largest domestic purchaser of vaccines, uses its buying clout to extract deep discounts for purchases. If interference with market forces were warranted, arguably the government should be offering subsidies to enhance profitability and encourage more R&D rather than imposing what amounts to a punitive tax on vaccine manufacturers.
The result has been a cycle of shortages. And it's not just flu shots. As Robert Klein recounted at the Manhattan Institute conference,
Concern for vaccine supply arose because of unprecedented and unanticipated shortages of a number of routinely administered vaccines beginning in 2001. These were significant, extended shortages of vaccines against eight of the eleven vaccine-preventable childhood infectious diseases, including DTaP, that is, diphtheria, tetanus toxoids and the acellular pertussis vaccine; MMR, the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine combination; varicella; and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Adult tetanus and diphtheria toxoids were also in short supply.
Interesting: the flawed approach used by the CDC--that is, using its buying clout to extract deep discounts from manufacturers--is exactly the same approach that John Kerry thinks the Medicare program should use for all prescription drugs, not just vaccines (see below). Lord help us.
Update: Kerry has wasted no time trying to score political points off the flu shot fiasco. Ignoring the underlying problems in the vaccine market and the fact that his proposed policies would export similar problems to other sectors of the pharmceutical market, Kerry bloviated on the issue at a campaign speech in Ohio:
If you can't plan to have enough of that vaccine, what are they doing with respect to other things that could potentially hurt America in terms of bioterrorism, chemical terrorism, other kinds of things?
Excuse me, I'm feeling a little sick.
ML/NJ
Every year there's a hubbub over the flu vaccine--yawn. It's been almost 7 years since I last had the flu--and that's without the "help" of a flu shot.
It may not be much of an issue to you. I guess maybe you're smarter than many of us. Maybe what happened back in 1918 or so was just an aberration. Maybe my doctors' professional opinions that I should get a shot are just salesmanship from greedy men who hope to make an extra ten bucks a year if they give me the shot. But I'd like to be able to buy a flu shot. I can buy bubble gum, and I can buy the complete works of Shakespeare. Maybe you don't care about these either; but I like having the choice. Thanks to the actions of our government, that choice as regards flu shots is disappearing.
ML/NJ
Bush and company should pound away at the Two-Lawyer Ticket. Edwards and his pals are responsible for the lack of vaccine. Who wants to risk billion-dollar lawsuits for a couple of million profits? Thank you, lawyer-boys and lawyer-girls.
Mr. President, please listen!
So Kerry tries to politicize the issue by blaming Bush. Mr Bush should fire back and place the true blame where it really lies. But then you can be sure the Dems and their media mouthpieces will scream "Bush is trying to capitalize on other peoples' misery!!"
Thanks for the suggestion. I had never heard of this. But a quick GoogleGroups search indicates that there may be something to it.
ML/NJ
It is a big deal if you are one of the 36,000 Americans who die of the flu every year.
Flu shots don't even work. This is a bunch of malarky over nothing.
If your healthy, you don't need this junk medicine. It is merely a placebo for the weak and old.
Did you know that there are thousands of strains of flu, and that even if you got a flu shot, which supposedly contains antibodies for relatively few strains, that those strains mutate as they pass from person to person? This natural mutation of flu virus's makes the flu shot innefective.
Best advice is post 3 above by shield.
And when did the flu shot suddenly become a "right" for all citizens? PAY for it, and you will find it's available everywhere.
Shield, is this okay for children, too?
I'm curious what your level of scientific and/or medical education is. Would you tell us please.
ML/NJ
I wont get one again. Will try the advice in post 3 for the family.
Because enviro weinies say elderberries are endangered, so your not allowed to pick them, least you prevent them from reseeding themselves. (I don't know if that's true or not regarding elderberries, but it is regarding other plants in various regions)
Thank you! Paranoia--not the flu--drives the need for the flu shot. My God, how did we ever survive without it!?
What this commentary is about is how the government created an effective monopoly so that this aspect of the market CAN'T work.
Also, are you really familiar with FDA requirements? I once had to take a course on it just to be permitted to support a pharmaceuticals off-site IT requirements. I don't go anywhere near a manufacturing facility, or biologics. It's mind-boggling - and undoubtedly prohibitively expensive.
That the liberals are creating another problem through their good intentions
that the rest of us have to fix
is.
Hmm. Nobody in my family has ever gotten a flu shot.
I don't recall anybody getting the flu lately, either. Personally, I seem to remember having a flu maybe 10 or 15 years ago.
Is it common for people to get flu shots? All these stories about flu vaccines make me wonder if I'm out of a loop or something.
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