Chicago Bears Say Flu Shots Only Went to Two Team Members, Both Asthmatics

AP ^ | 10-22-2004

[lindor]

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) - The Chicago Bears gave scarce flu vaccines to two players who have asthmatic conditions that placed them at high risk of developing influenza, the team said Friday.

Healthy players who asked whether they should receive the vaccinations were told no, Bears spokesman Scott Hagel said.

"The players that received the shots were the ones that were in the high risk category," Hagel said. "Nothing was offered categorically across our players. This is part of our standard procedure every year."

The team returned its unused flu vaccine to the distributor, Hagel said.

"We received our order in mid-September, well before the shortage was announced," Hagel said. The nationwide shortage was announced Oct. 5.

The team called a news conference Friday after the players' morning practice in response to media reports that healthy players had received the vaccinations.

"Everybody is really conscious of what is going on," defensive end Michael Haynes said. "We realize there is a shortage, and everybody is trying to do their part."

Generally, only players who need the vaccinations are offered them, Haynes said.

"A lot of us are healthy and we don't have respiratory problems. Obviously we're not old and we're not young, not little kids, so we don't need it and we know that," he said.

Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said he wasn't offered a shot.

"No. I mean, come on guys, are you serious? No," Hillenmeyer said. "I didn't even know they were doing it. I didn't even know they were giving them."

The vaccine shortage was caused when one of the nation's two suppliers, Chiron Corp., was barred from shipping its vaccine because of contamination. That cut almost in half the 100 million doses U.S. officials were expecting.

Officials urged healthy Americans to forgo shots to have enough for those at highest risk of getting seriously ill from flu. Each year, 200,000 Americans are hospitalized with the virus, and 36,000 die.

Chicago Bulls players received the vaccinations Oct. 4 - the day before the shortage was announced.

"We absolutely need them," guard Eric Piatkowski said. "The way we travel, we're going in and out of cold and warm climates. I won't say we need them more than some 85-year-old person, because obviously we don't. But I'm glad we got them."

[Captainpaintball]

That's asking too much, don't you think? .

[Libloather]

Why doesn't the headline read: TWO BEARS GET SHOT! COMMUNITY REVOLTS DEMANDING THE SAME TREATMENT!

[berkeleybeej]

Let's see, the Bulls play indoors and the Bears play outdoors most of the time. You do the math.

Inside..outside - doesn't matter. How many people are they exposed to within droplet range of a sneeze? A lot more than the average joe.

Also this article portends a pain in the ass slant of the media...everyone THEY don't deem as worthy of a flu shot (like Cheney fer crying out loud) is going to get pounced on.

[mountaineer]

Where's his flu shot? It was doubtless used by some member of Congress or a Congressional staffer.

Doubtless - I'm sure you have evidence to support your allegation. Is it the responsibility of the federal government to provide flu shots for everyone who believes he needs one? Since when is this an entitlement? My 79-year-old mother got hers, but she called her own doctor and paid whatever the going rate was.

[Not A Snowbird]

I work for the government, and we're not getting shots this year. Those who have a medical need are getting them through their primary care physician.

[Capriole]

Of course I don't suggest for a moment that it's the government's responsibility to pay for my health care. I pay for my own private insurance, thanks. But apparently there is no vaccine to be had in the MD/VA/DC area, for any price, and in light of this fact, it's a bit annoying to see healthy twenty-two-year-old Senate and House staffers getting free shots when at-risk children can't get them. Living close to the Capitol and occasionally working in that neighborhood, as I do, I already witness enough corruption and waste on Capitol Hill to make me chronically annoyed with the profligate antics in Congress.

[Condor51]

Please, please please let Jonathan Quinn get the flu.

Or how about just SHOT!
JOKING

Kidding aside, he is undoubtedly the WORST QB, I've ever seen (that black guy last year doesn't count), Bears or otherwise. Heck, Quinn makes Bobby Douglass look like HOF material in hindsight! (ooooh, those were painful years)

Note to Jerry Angelo: I think I know where Jack Concannon is, and he might even be sober. Want me to find him for you? So what if he's 61, he's better than that brain dead Quinn - even drunk!