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Bush supporters have tried to argue that the Bush administration bears no responsiblity for this year's critical shortage of flu vaccine.

This is from Medical News Today:
Last August UK officials, with the same information the US officials had, decided something had to be done in case the Chiron supplies, 14% of UK supplies, went belly up. The US officials decided to believe Chiron and gamble 48% of their supplies on an assurance that everything would turn out fine despite some worrying set backs.

When October 5th arrived, the British authorities pulled the plug on the Chiron, Liverpool, supplies. US authorities were caught out - nothing had been done in advance, the country had allowed itself to get into this situation.

[snip]

Even without this crisis, the UK authorities have always had a situation where they can fall back on six or seven suppliers that have been pre-approved by UK authorities. The US, on the other hand, only has two - one of which has let them down. Had the US had more pre-approved suppliers, had the US started to do something about this problem last August when alarm bells were ringing, had the US…….? This is what many Americans are now starting to ask.

The American Health Dept saw no reason last August to do anything, says their spokesman Tony Jewell. Americans hear him and ask, so why did the British have a reason, you both worked on the same information, didn't you?

America's only other supplier, Aventis, may have upped supplies if they had been asked in advance - say last August - said an Aventis spokesman. But no one from the US approached them on this matter, not till after Oct 5.
That really sums things up. Two governments were working with the same information -- that there were potential problems with the flu vaccine supply. One government handled it well, while the Bush administration displayed incompetence. As they have done on the Iraq quagmire, you can see the Bush administration refusing to take responsibility for this, blaming everybody but themselves for the choices made by the Bush adminstration. As flu season approaches, we can only hope seniors and children won't die because of this administration's poor judgment.

Comments (Page 1)
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on Oct 19, 2004
Why Has the Flu Crisis Hit America, and Not the UK?

By: blogic
Posted: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 on The Tide Goes Out
Message Board: Politics
Bush supporters have tried to argue that the Bush administration bears no responsiblity for this year's critical shortage of flu vaccine.

This is from :
Last August UK officials, with the same information the US officials had, decided something had to be done in case the Chiron supplies, 14% of UK supplies, went belly up. The US officials decided to believe Chiron and gamble 48% of their supplies on an assurance that everything would turn out fine despite some worrying set backs.

When October 5th arrived, the British authorities pulled the plug on the Chiron, Liverpool, supplies. US authorities were caught out - nothing had been done in advance, the country had allowed itself to get into this situation.

[snip]

Even without this crisis, the UK authorities have always had a situation where they can fall back on six or seven suppliers that have been pre-approved by UK authorities. The US, on the other hand, only has two - one of which has let them down. Had the US had more pre-approved suppliers, had the US started to do something about this problem last August when alarm bells were ringing, had the US…….? This is what many Americans are now starting to ask.

The American Health Dept saw no reason last August to do anything, says their spokesman Tony Jewell. Americans hear him and ask, so why did the British have a reason, you both worked on the same information, didn't you?

America's only other supplier, Aventis, may have upped supplies if they had been asked in advance - say last August - said an Aventis spokesman. But no one from the US approached them on this matter, not till after Oct 5.
That really sums things up. Two governments were working with the same information -- that there were potential problems with the flu vaccine supply. One government handled it well, while the Bush administration displayed incompetence. As they have done on the Iraq quagmire, you can see the Bush administration refusing to take responsibility for this, blaming everybody but themselves for the choices made by the Bush adminstration. As flu season hits us this winter, hopefully seniors and children won't die for Bush's mistake.


Get a grip and quit trying to put this on GW's doorstep. He had assurances that everything would be okay. You ever stop to think the Brits knew something that we didn't like maybe they had already decided to pull the plug on them? And while we're at it, can we "please" get off the "Iraq is a quagmire" kick? It's getting real old and serves absolutely no purpose.
on Oct 19, 2004

"Flu Crisis"?  That may be a bit over the top.  I've only had one flu vaccine in my life, and I ended up getting the flu anyway.  To me it just sounds like people like to freak out over everything.  Yes, the flu can kill people, but from all the info that I have seen, there will be enough vaccine to vaccinate the people who would be at risk of dying from the flu.  I read a study last year that said that healthy young people aren't typically at risk at all, so there is no reason for them to get a shot.  So, with a little common sense, people who don't really need it- don't get it, and people who are at risk should be able to get it.

What's the biggest problem with government?  No matter what they do, it will be wrong.  Can you imagine if they would have pulled the plug and went with a different supplier that maybe raised the prices?  Then, there would be the scandalous "government raised prices on flu shot" complaints.

on Oct 19, 2004
Yeah, I'm not going to drink the Kool-Aid on this one. I don't think the flu vaccine is all that big of a deal -- in 2003 it was only 50% effective overall and 38% effective for "at risk" groups.

Here, I wrote an article about it, and Karma, Jill, Daiwa, and Cactoblasta all made some really good observations in the comments.

Link

on Oct 19, 2004
You are so clueless, blogic.

"Last" August was 2 months ago.

Do you have any idea how flu vaccine is developed & manufactured?

Do you have any clue what the lead times are in order to have a safe vaccine available by October?

And the Bush administration had nothing to do with the fact that the U.S. had only two suppliers - you can thank your sainted Bill Clinton for that.

Take this complete piece of shit and stick it where it belongs - in the garbage.

Cheers,
Daiwa

It's this kind of idiotic
on Oct 19, 2004
Take this complete piece of shit and stick it where it belongs - in the garbage.


Yow. That's a bit harsh. The Bush administration was, in fact, warned 3 years ago that such a thing could occur and that they would be caught unprepared -- and the administration did nothing to try and prevent it. So some of this has merit -- it's not a "complete piece of shit."

Having said that, I still don't think it's such a big deal.
on Oct 19, 2004
Obviously I started to say something & accidentally hit the Post Comment button.

It's this kind of demagoguery that just drives me nuts.
I can't believe the 4 hurricanes in Florida haven't been blamed on Bush for having slashed the NOAA budget or having mismanaged it or some such silliness. This is desperation of the sickest kind.

Cheers,
Daiwa
on Oct 19, 2004
Obviously I started to say something & accidentally hit the Post Comment button.

It's this kind of demagoguery that just drives me nuts.
I can't believe the 4 hurricanes in Florida haven't been blamed on Bush for having slashed the NOAA budget or having mismanaged it or some such silliness. This is desperation of the sickest kind.

Cheers,
Daiwa
on Oct 19, 2004

Oh, please.


This sounds like one more thing someone's drug up to bitch about and blame Bush for. 


 

on Oct 19, 2004
Then I accidentally hit it twice! Sheesh.

Anyway, keep an eye out for that "Bush responsible for hurricanes" article. I'm sure blogic is working on it.

Cheers,
Daiwa
on Oct 19, 2004
This sounds like one more thing someone's drug up to bitch about and blame Bush for.


Bush touched me in my no-no place.





on Oct 19, 2004
Sorry, Myrrander. This silliness just bugs me and I was perhaps a bit harsh with that.

Nonetheless, Clinton was warned about Osama, too, so what do we conclude from that? Saying that "the administration was warned" 3 years ago is simplistic and tells me nothing. Vaccine programs and production are way to complicated & regulated to play this "hindsight is perfect" blame game.

Cheers,
Daiwa
on Oct 19, 2004

Bush touched me in my no-no place.


@ Myrrander....

on Oct 19, 2004
As Daiwa alluded to, your time frame has no bearing on the reasons for the flu vaccine problems. The problem, and solution, lie in the restrictive policys enacted during the Clinton administration that made it not economically feasible for US companies to remain in the vaccine business.

In effect, the policies enacted during the Clinton administration forced the US to outsource its vaccine industry. As a result, the US is dependent on too few companies for all vaccines, not just flu vaccine.
on Oct 19, 2004
Everytime I got a Flu shot; I have gotten sick.
Everytime I did not recieve a Flu Shot; I have NEVER gotten sick.

I am seeing a pattern here, the shot gets you sick to keep from getting sick so is it that important to me or low-risk/no-risk people?

Hell NO!!

- Grim X (ACHOOO!!!)
on Oct 19, 2004
Wrong President. Try this:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/12/13/140235.shtml

How Clinton caused the crisis! Now, as usual, Bush has to clean up the Clinton/Gore mess again!
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