Posted on 10/21/2009 10:31:54 AM PDT by nickcarraway
H1N1 flu is running rampant throughout the U.S., and the country will have received only 25 percent of the vaccine that was expected by the end of October, Sen. Joe Lieberman told a Senate committee hearing Wednesday.
The grim news was the focus of a special hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, at which three Cabinet secretaries were called to address the panel: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
As of last week, there were more than 5,000 cases of flu reported, compared to 7 cases in October of last year. More than 800 people have died from H1N1, including 86 children, according to the latest reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s moved with alarming speed and took an exceptionally high toll at a time of year when we don’t encounter a high number of flu cases,” said Lieberman, I-Conn, who leads the Senate's homeland security committee. “Flu spikes typically occur in January. We’re in October … and the number of cases is higher than what we usually see at the flu’s peak in January.”
Full Coverage H1N1: Click here
CDC officials say there should be widespread availability of the vaccine by mid-November.
Sebelius blamed the vaccine shortage on lower than predicted yields from vaccine manufacturers and on some manufacturing "glitches" that have occurred since May. She said the yields are now more in line with original predictions and that any glitches have been corrected.
"We anticipate a robust production line moving forward," she said.
She said the vaccine that has been received by the U.S. is safe and "right on target" as far as matching the H1N1 strain that is circulating
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Centralized planning at it’s finest. Get used to it.
Really? Is everything going according to plan, Sebelius? /sarc
Where ae the breathless news stories about how the nobama administration is at fault for not properly preparing for this flu epidemic? I remember months of bashing Bush for what was perceived as a “shortage”, and lack of preparation.
Only some one with the intellect of a moron, or the morals of a prostitute can deny the bias that runs rampant through the left wing media.
Could you imagine if these clowns had to deal with a real
emergency? By the time they get these vaccines out they
will be behind the eight ball on next years flu vaccine.
Quick! Instill Martial Law!!!
August 15, 2003 The Wall Street Journal (EXCERPT)
Everyone knows America's vaccine industry is in serious trouble, with an ever dwindling number of producers and recent severe vaccine shortages. What everyone also should know is that the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine has now pinned much of the blame on Hillary Rodham Clinton….
[T]hey identify as a fundamental cause of the problem the fact that the government purchases 55% of the childhood vaccine market at forced discount prices. The result has been "declining financial incentives to develop and produce vaccines."
The root of this government role goes back to August 1993, when Congress passed Mrs. Clinton's Vaccines for Children program. A dream of Hillary's friends at the Children's Defense Fund, her vaccines plan was to use federal power to ensure universal immunization. So the government agreed to purchase a third of the national vaccine supply (the Clintons had pushed for 100%) at a forced discount of half price, then distribute it to doctors to deliver to the poor and the un- and under-insured.
The result is a cautionary tale for anyone who favors national health care. Already very high in 1993, childhood vaccination rates barely budged. A General Accounting Office report at the time noted that "vaccines are already free" for the truly needy through programs like Medicaid. Meanwhile, however, the Hillary project dealt the vaccine industry another financial body blow.
Thirty years ago, the Institute report notes, 25 companies produced vaccines for the U.S. market. Today only five remain, and a number of critical shots have only one producer. Recent years have brought shortages of numerous vaccines, including those for whooping cough, diphtheria and chicken pox….
The Institute of Medicine panel deserves credit for highlighting the threat to vaccine makers from government price controls. Mrs. Clinton is a powerful Senator now with Presidential ambitions. It took some guts for the Institute panel to say in effect that one of her pet projects is a bust….
And it may well peak early -— before most vaccine is available. Some are suggesting that the major portions of this outbreak will be over by midNov.
Always nice to know that government mandates are followed by bacteria and viruses
It had me on the ropes for five days or so...
some pretty nasty s**t...
And Drudge has “CBSNEWS: H1N1 Not As Prevalent As Feared...”
I think it was on Fox news this morning that said that seasonal flu has always been distributed privately, and it’s gone well.
For H1N1, the government took over distribution and that is what has caused the problems getting the vaccine out.
This is an epic failure of this administration.
Obama has had lots of time and spent lots of money since taking office. Pick a program that you think was unnecessary. Take out that cash. Pour it into emergency medical preparations. For how many months has the White House been talking about H1N1? What resources could they have been putting to use to protect the country? What resources did they squander?
The next time the White House ramps up the emergency call and alarms the public, remember the money and time they wasted.
And remember the next child in TX or MN that died of H1N1 because they didn’t get the vaccine.
Obama and Sebelius are complicit in using this for political gain.
No but they can, and are.
"By the time they get these vaccines out they will be behind the eight ball on next years flu vaccine."
Yea, and potentially millions dead.
Funny, that. ;^)
How will mandatory vaccinations be enforced if there isn’t enough for the fools that want it?
Purdue researchers: H1N1 about to peak
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367571/posts
Obama’s Fault.
The CBS story claiming H1N1 not as bad as feared is a ruse, they are saying if you’be been sick you probably didn’t really have H1N1 and you still need to get vaccinated, they are trying to trick people who have already had it to go get vaccinated anyway and needlessly. Purdue says H1N1 peaks this week, and then you have stories saying we’re all going to die, what does that tell you. Well, whose in power, and still folks will run in and get the shot, sigh ... No wonder obmama was elected, gullable, gullable, gullable ...
CBS News Exclusive: Study Of State Results Finds H1N1 Not As Prevalent As Feared
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367763/posts
I heard an expert on H1N1 on the radio this morning, who was asked why, when the vaccine was promised to arrive a couple of weeks ago, it hadn’t arrived in our state. His answer was that previously private companies shipped out the supply to doctors. This time, however, the government has taken over the task.
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