I just finished listening to a syndicated radio show that hosted the "world's experts" on avian flu and the possible coming pandemic. The upshot of the interview was that the likelihood of the pandemic happening was really quite low. They reasons they gave were:
?The flu hasn't mutated to spread from human to human
?If it did spread it is likely that it would be a "dead-end" mutation allowing very low contagiousness
?It hasn't infected anyone except those who have had contact with bird droppings or eaten raw or undercooked flesh or blood.
?The H5N1 strain has been around for many years without mutating
The?horrifying part is the mortality rate.??52% of people who have gotten this particular flu have died from respiratory problems after several days of the flu. The less problematic issue is that it devastates the poultry industry where it occurs. The most?certain of all possible problems is the undue pressure being put on government officials to support the pharmaceutical industry in developing vaccine manufacturing capability. In essence the deal that is in the works would provide three basic advantages to the vaccine manufacturers:
1. Legal cover for bad reactions to the vaccine (this is reasonable within certain limits-malicious negligence should be a criminal issue)
2. Financial support to develop capability rapidly (maybe OK)
3. A guarantee that the production capabilities would be supported over the long term by providing a market for vaccine products!
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Health and human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said in October, "We received expressions of vigorous support from the vaccine industry, their willingness to aggressively help us prepare. We talked about the need for short-term and long-term preparations, talked about the importance of a vigorous domestic vaccine market and the need for us to be planning" for avian flu and a potential flu pandemic.
Leavitt added that vaccine manufacturers must "have a sense of certainty" that a market will exist, possibly through the expansion of other federal vaccine programs. "By creating an ethic of vaccinations, for example, for the ordinary flu, it increases not only the health of our country, but the certainty of the capacity that we need in time of crisis," Leavitt said (Douglas/Landay, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/8). In addition, Leavitt said that the federal government will "have to deal with the indemnity issue" and "create a streamlined regulatory process for the development of new facilities" (AP/Washington Times, 10/8).
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WHAT??? Yes, part of the deal includes a provision that the vaccine manufacturers would be guaranteed a "market" for their other products that would make creating this production system profitable. In other words there will be government sanctioned promotion of vaccines for the purpose of rewarding manufacturers for helping to meet the need for bird flu vaccine. I get the feeling that there's more to this than simple public health preparedness. I get a really sick feeling that vaccine laws will become more and more mandatory and less and less optional. How else could this deal be viable?
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I rarely sound alarms because there are plenty of organizations that spend their energy doing that all day long. I don't want to be the one who cried wolf. At this point I am genuinely concerned that what was once media hype has become a potentially devastating political and medical disaster. The problems with a pandemic are worth addressing from every possible angle. Saddling the American public with a permanent obligation to be injected with immune-modulating agents for the rest of our history makes no sense at all. That is a fool-proof recipe for disaster. We can ill-afford to transfer our rights to our bodies and our health to profit-driven entities that have shown their colors many times. Their primary color is green. I think you can take it from there.
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You can prepare for the flu season and take great care of yourself all you like. If the government contracts with for-profit companies to provide your body as a dump site for their products it may be a labor in vain. The reasonable solution to this dilemna would be to remove the profit motive and put the project on a war footing. As a taxpayer I am willing to help fund public health infrastructure. I am not willing to prostitute my family or myself to assure the long-term profitability of someone else's business.? Selling your body is still prostitution.... isn't it?
