Experts have been predicting flu vaccine shortage for years

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

According to this article Bush's policies did not cause the vacccine shortage. It appears his tendency to ignose expert warings did

This year's severe flu vaccine shortage comes at the peak of the presidential campaign season, and both candidates have wasted little time in using the issue to make political points. President Bush has said the shortage underscores the need for tort reform so that vaccine manufacturers aren't pushed out of the market by liability lawsuits. Sen. John Kerry has said the shortage highlights deficiencies in the administration's health care policies. Reporter Donna Leinwand interviewed a number of experts to determine what is behind the shortage.

-snip-

Q: Do lawsuits keep companies out of the vaccine market?


A: Congress addressed the problem of lawsuits in 1986 with a law establishing the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.


Congress was responding to lawsuits over side effects from the diphtheria, tetanus pertussis (DPT) vaccines that were pushing vaccine manufacturers out of the market. Now people who are injured by vaccines file a claim with the fund. They can only file a lawsuit if the compensation program denies the claim.

-snip-

Q: Did Bush administration policies cause the shortage?


A: Scientists have been predicting such a shortage for years. Experts attribute it to several factors: market forces that make vaccines unprofitable, difficult regulatory hurdles to meet, and the challenge of matching the flu vaccine to that year's strain. Scientists have been discussing for a decade ways to solve the problem, says Harry Keyserling, professor of pediatrics at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta.


Q: What could the government do to encourage more companies to produce vaccines?


A: The government could guarantee a market for the vaccines by agreeing to buy back or cover the cost for a certain number of unsold doses, similar to how it purchased smallpox vaccine.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&e=5&u=/usatoday/20041020/ts_usatoday/expertshavebeenpredictingfluvaccineshortageforyears

[oneighty]

1. They could

also have a great big government owned and operated vaccine manufacturing facility for the good of the country and the taxpayers that live here.

Surely this borrow and spend Bush* government could borrow a few more bucks?

180

[DemBones DemBones]

3. They could have spent a bit of the money going into the

health care system for the people of Iraq and done something for the health of Americans. But that would require a compassionate heart.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. In September, Chiron told govts of US and UK of the shortage.

The UK got busy and found an alternate source while the US sat on its hand and now says "We couldn't have known."

Couldn't have known that a serious shortage of flu vaccine would cause anger, concern, even panic among the vunerable high-risk patients? I guess that's because they can always get what they need/ want, no matter what shortages exist, and they just don't understand the rest of the people in the US.

[sendero]

4. This whole thing...

... has me perplexed.

Only the very young, the very old or the very sick need flu shots. Their effectiveness is very questionable. But suddenly, everyone is acting like this is some big crisis.

It isn't, it's a bunch of baloney.

This is why I my trust in the media, anything I see on TV, is almost non-existent. Any time they report on anything I know about firsthand, they get it so wrong that I wonder just what if anything they get right.

If you are not immune-compromised in some way, you don't really need a damn flu shot. Get over it already.