Posted on 10/25/2004 6:25:58 AM PDT by OESY
...Neither Kerry nor running-mate John Edwards is being truthful with the American people about this issue. If they were, they'd have to look to their major allies — the tort-lawyer lobby — as a major source of the problem.
Back in the 1960s, 26 companies made vaccines in the United States; today, only four do — and none makes flu vaccines. The two sources for flu shots are firms in Britain and France.
What changed?
As The Weekly Standard reported last week, it was a new legal concept called "liability without fault" that began emerging four decades ago. This held companies liable for huge damages even in cases where no negligence had been proven.
Moreover, vaccines became a low-profit business after the federal government began purchasing the doses and distributing them to doctors — instead of the companies selling the vaccines directly to physicians.
Combine low-to-nonexistent profits with a growing risk of sky-high jury verdicts, thanks to exactly the sort of litigation lotto encouraged by voracious tort lawyers (like John Edwards), and you can understand why pharmaceutical companies feel they're better off staying away from vaccines.
Indeed, as Dr. Paul Offit, head of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, writes: "Vaccines became one of the first medical products to be eliminated by lawsuits."
Congress tried to address fears of a potential shortage with President Bush's Health Act, which would have reduced liability for flu-vaccine manufacturers. It passed the House, but not the Senate. John Edwards voted no — John Kerry didn't even bother showing up for the vote....
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Absolutely!
As I understand it, developing an effective vaccine and producing it in useable quantities is a months' long process and starts in about Jan or Feb each year to deal with a possible Fall outbreak. The vaccine targets one specific strain of the disease though may be helpful against others but it's all based on a scientific "bet" on what strain will appear.
Last year's vaccine was in fact targeted against the wrong strain and in large part was totally ineffective. All the stockpiling in the world wouldn't have made it any better.
I'm also high risk because of age and because I had my spleen removed because of Hodgkins. I got a shot. It should have been possible for most high-risk people to get shots. That was supposedly what they were reserving them for.
True...we would be getting the same argument I keep getting from Libs about the body armor, "it wasn't the proper one". Never mind that the body armor they reference as being "proper" was barely out of first article inspection and was just going into production. Facts don't seem to matter to those not informed about Govt. procurement procedures.
Congress is responsible for that, not Bush...
Despite presidential priority, tort reform stalls in Congress
Always remember...the President proposes, Congress disposes.
Don't give me that. Hey, he campaigned on that specific issue and has used it this campaign as well.
One of the biggest misconceptions about the flu is that when someone is really sick, they say, "I have the flu." When really all they have is a bad cold. The actual flu and a bad cold are very, very different. I had a really bad cold two or three winters ago. I thought I was going to die. But, the doctor quickly told me it was only a cold, not "the flu." While a lot of people get the flu, a lot think they have it and really don't. While in the military it was mandatory every year to get the shot. I have been retired for 12 plus years now and have not had one since I retired. I also have not had the flu. So, go figure.
You are so right. Bush could have eneded it during the debate when JK brought it up, but BUsh decided not to go for the jugular and its hurt the campaign.
But if the Bush campaign won't bother to explain this, it doesn't matter.
Just saying "Its the lawyers' fault" without explaining why isn't enough. The verdict is in on Karl Rove, this race should never have been this close with such an inferior Dem candidate.
The shortage is the direct result of Hillary Clinton's 1994 vaccine law (Thank God the only part of HillaryCare ever to become law) and the corruption of the liability lotto industry of Edwards.
Kerry has 100% supported both destructive forces. His record is pathetic.
Amen, this should never have been a close race.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Shhh! It's part of Rove's "New Tone"...can't let the Rats portray Bush as part of the evil drug companies.
I'm not giving up on Rove just yet.. I believe the reason he's ignoring a few of these borderline issues is because something FAR bigger is in the pipeline.
You totally nailed it. There's the Texas swagger Bush clearing out branches on his ranch and then there's the doofus Bush who has all the wimpy political characteristics of his father. Bush just doesn't know how to deliver a knockout punch. He and Tommy Thompson should be railing about the flu vaccine and the real reasons for its shortage.
Obstertricains and neurosurgeons are following closely as endangered species in some states without tort reform.
Additionally, from what I've heard, the vaccine is perishable. Can't be stored in "stockpiles."
You're right that it's only an educated guess as to which strain of flu will be prevalent in the coming year. And since flu vaccines take months to prepare ahead of time, there's no guarantee that the prepared vaccine will be effective against that particular year's strain of flu.
But apparently this season's strain of flu is turning out to be the same as last year's vaccine. Thus people who got shots last year may still have immunity to it.
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