Flu Shots in Short Supply at Army Bases

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Tue, Oct. 19, 2004

Flu Shots in Short Supply at Army Bases

ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press


RALEIGH, N.C. - At military bases already strained by the demands of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the men and women who defend the nation aren't being defended against the flu.

Soldiers who deploy are getting shots once they receive their orders, as are young children and others in at-risk groups, according to base spokesmen from around the state. But for many others in the military, flu shots are as scarce as they are for civilians.

Normally, the Navy hospital at Camp Lejeune - one of the state's two largest installations - would be getting 50,000 to 60,000 doses of flu vaccine for more than 40,000 active duty Marines, dependents and retirees.

"There are none aboard the base at this time," said George Reynolds, director of community health at Lejeune's hospital, which also covers needs at the New River air station. "We have not received the first dose."
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/9956855.htm
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[Kagemusha]

1. Not that um healthy young people need shots like this..

But it makes good propaganda.

[lebkuchen]

3. Flu shots for the military is standard operating procedure

Their families have historically been able to get the shots as well. Last year, they shots were given out at the base bookstore.

Not this year!

[ret5hd]

4. From my (sometimes faulty) memory of history classes...

one of the major causes of the 1918 flu pandemic was the military...

ww1, soldiers under stress (lowered imune system), housed in close quarters, unsanitary conditions, frequent contact with other military units (spreading from unit to unit), etc etc etc. kinda sounds like the troops today, huh?

sounds to me that if an administration CARED about the troops under their command and could read well enough to understand history, they would make SURE the troops were innoculated.

so, IMHO, it is not just propaganda, but a real issue.

[Jacobin]

5. Tens of thousands of soldiers were killed in WWI because of flu

They are cramped together in small places, travel from base to base frequently, have poor diets, are overstressed frequently which weakens their immune system.

Soldiers are an IDEAL petri dish for influenza.

[Timefortruth]

2. Tommy Thompson says there is no problem.

What's wrong with you posting this anti-government propaganda?

<sarcasm off>

[bigpathpaul]

6. BigPath Flyer: Please check these out, if the flu shortage is an issue 4 U

Downloads: http://bigpath.net/politics/Children_Families/ChildrenFamiliesStart.html

lu season arrives like clockwork each year. But an inattentive Bush administration has put millions of Americans at risk by failing to supply adequate amounts of vaccine, highlighting the hypocrisy of Bush’s claims that he represents average Americans, while demonstrating time and again how out of touch he really is. Ordinary citizens, thousands of whom may die without the flu vaccine, are ignored by an administration obsessed with boosting corporate bottom lines for wealthy donors.

In the Oct. 13 debate, the president blamed the British for the vaccine shortage. But, Chiron, the manufacturer, is an American company, subject to FDA regulation, with a plant in England. In June 2003, the FDA found the plant contaminated with bacteria yet announced “the problems were corrected to their satisfaction,” allowing production to continue. President Bush claimed that “We took the right action and didn’t allow contaminated medicine into our country.” But that was also false. The plant’s license was revoked by the British on October 5 after they inspected it.

While research and deployment of bioterror countermeasures move at a snail’s pace, drug companies recycle massive profits into commercials for pills to improve sexual performance and combat hay fever. Drug companies enjoy some of the highest profit margins of any American industry, paying 40% less in taxes than other companies. Yet, the cost of drugs to Americans has risen at three times the rate of inflation.

When lobbyists for giant pharmaceutical companies pressured Washington to allow them to extend their patents, the Republican Congress — recipients of millions of dollars in donations from the drug companies — readily cooperated. The result was fewer low-cost generic drugs for working men and women and record profits for the pharmaceutical companies. With the campaign in high gear, phony tax breaks and promises abound, but come November 3rd, if the Republicans retain power, the needs of working men and women and their families will tumble right back down to the bottom of the barrel.

http://www.bigpath.net