http://benkazie.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/sebelius-administration-blamed-for-dear
Indeed, one cannot blame the President or Administration for every aspect of the recent swine flu vaccine saga. To be sure there are technologic hurdles that have had to be overcome and remain a source of difficulty. Specifically this relates to the decades old technique of producing vaccine from virus incubated in chicken eggs. H1N1 has proven to be a slow grower in this old tech medium, despite it’s ability to spread rapidly among the human population. The slow growth of the virus in this technique has caused estimates of vaccine availability and quantity to be grossly over-promised and overstated. This has of course resulted in expected criticism from many quarters, both medical and political.
Additionally, it seems that with the shortage of vaccine, a robust enough effort to attack the most likely vectors of spread – school age children – could not be fully mustered resulting in the now familiar instruction: pregnant women first, everybody else to the back of the line. Also, the distribution process, being coordinated by the CDC and feds has seen major issues in terms of availability of vaccine. All in all, there is much greater demand than availability for vaccine. As for producers, the United States, thanks to its aggressive legal system and lack of tort reform, has in essence driven almost all vaccine manufacturers out of the US. Therefore, we are also reliant upon foreign vaccine manufacturers to a extent rivaled only by our foreign reliance on oil. Limitations on liability while not the only issue, would go long way toward enticing vaccine producers to relocate to the United States. Until some of these things change, we can expect this scenario to occur again and again in an ever more populated and interconnected world, where the rapid spread of viruses is easier than ever . . . ben kazie md
The moment a novel strain of swine flu emerged in Mexico last spring, President Obama instructed his top advisers that his administration would not be caught flat-footed in the event of a deadly pandemic. Now, despite months of planning and preparation, a vaccine shortage is threatening to undermine public confidence in government, creating a very public test of Mr. Obama’s competence.
The shortage, caused by delays in the vaccine manufacturing process, has put the president in exactly the situation he sought to avoid — one in which questions are being raised about the government’s response.
Shortage of Vaccine Poses Political Test for Obama – http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/us/politics/
The Obama administration gave its most aggressive defense of the government’s swine flu vaccine campaign, with top officials saying Wednesday that despite shortages, the program has been more successful than expected in some ways and that millions of doses are quickly becoming available. While acknowledging that many Americans have been frustrated by their inability to get the shot, two Cabinet members held a briefing for reporters to ask the public for their patience, saying the program is expected to speed up quickly.
Top officials defend flu vaccination campaign – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102803822.
Across Massachusetts, pregnant women have been swamping physician phone lines looking for H1N1 vaccine, often with no luck. Earlier this week from East Coast to West, lines snaked around blocks outside clinics offering the shots. And in Indianapolis, a health clinic dispensed all its shots in an hour and had to turn people away. This is what happens when you fail to follow an old business maxim, which says success results when you under-promise and over-deliver. Seems the federal government got it backwards.
For starters, the myriad federal agencies involved — perhaps there are too many, adding to disarray — need to keep closer tabs on vaccine production. Nicole Lurie, a top HHS official, says that despite weekly conference calls with vaccine-makers, she was surprised to learn around Columbus Day that three of them were having problems that would delay delivery. Her account raises the issue of why the government, a huge customer awaiting a vital product, didn’t have better intelligence about production levels.
The H1N1 pandemic also highlights how the nation is too reliant on foreign vaccine producers. Only one of the five vaccine makers is based in the USA, and most of the production occurs overseas. CSL Ltd., an Australian producer, met its own country’s needs first. Overseas demands on foreign companies could prove fatal to Americans in a future pandemic. More production on U.S. soil and a faster move to modern cell-based production, which doesn’t rely on eggs, are feasible solutions. The first cell-based plant is set to open in North Carolina next month, but it won’t be producing vaccine until 2011.
View on H1N1: Government over-promises, under-delivers on flu shots – http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/10/debate-on-h1n1-our-view-government-overpr
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci was talking with fellow federal officials in September, a month before swine flu vaccinations were to begin, when it became clear they had a bigger problem than they feared with supplies.
As we got closer and closer, they said, ‘Oh, my God, we’re not going to make it,’ ” Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview
A Nation Battling Flu, and Short Vaccine Supplies – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/health/26flu.html?pagewanted=all
AMA, American College of Emergency Medicine, American College of Pediatricians, American Medical Association, CDC, complications of Swine Flu, disease prevention, disease treatment, flu, flu vaccines, H1N1, H1N1 Flu, health, health news, health officials, health threats, illness, immunization, medical news, medicine news, news, Novel H1N1 Flu, pandemic, pandemic news, President Obama, prevention, research, Sebelius, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Swine Flu, swine flu deaths, swine flu immunization, Swine flu news, vaccine, vaccine availability, vaccine distribution, vaccine producers, vaccine production, vaccine shortages, vaccines, virus
http://benkazie.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/sebelius-administration-blamed-for-dear
The moment a novel strain of swine flu emerged in Mexico last spring, President Obama instructed his top advisers that his administration would not be caught flat-footed in the event of a deadly pandemic. Now, despite months of planning and preparation, a vaccine shortage is threatening to undermine public confidence in government, creating a very public test of Mr. Obama’s competence.
The shortage, caused by delays in the vaccine manufacturing process, has put the president in exactly the situation he sought to avoid — one in which questions are being raised about the government’s response.
Shortage of Vaccine Poses Political Test for Obama – http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/us/politics/
The Obama administration gave its most aggressive defense of the government’s swine flu vaccine campaign, with top officials saying Wednesday that despite shortages, the program has been more successful than expected in some ways and that millions of doses are quickly becoming available. While acknowledging that many Americans have been frustrated by their inability to get the shot, two Cabinet members held a briefing for reporters to ask the public for their patience, saying the program is expected to speed up quickly.
Top officials defend flu vaccination campaign – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102803822.
Across Massachusetts, pregnant women have been swamping physician phone lines looking for H1N1 vaccine, often with no luck. Earlier this week from East Coast to West, lines snaked around blocks outside clinics offering the shots. And in Indianapolis, a health clinic dispensed all its shots in an hour and had to turn people away. This is what happens when you fail to follow an old business maxim, which says success results when you under-promise and over-deliver. Seems the federal government got it backwards.
For starters, the myriad federal agencies involved — perhaps there are too many, adding to disarray — need to keep closer tabs on vaccine production. Nicole Lurie, a top HHS official, says that despite weekly conference calls with vaccine-makers, she was surprised to learn around Columbus Day that three of them were having problems that would delay delivery. Her account raises the issue of why the government, a huge customer awaiting a vital product, didn’t have better intelligence about production levels.
The H1N1 pandemic also highlights how the nation is too reliant on foreign vaccine producers. Only one of the five vaccine makers is based in the USA, and most of the production occurs overseas. CSL Ltd., an Australian producer, met its own country’s needs first. Overseas demands on foreign companies could prove fatal to Americans in a future pandemic. More production on U.S. soil and a faster move to modern cell-based production, which doesn’t rely on eggs, are feasible solutions. The first cell-based plant is set to open in North Carolina next month, but it won’t be producing vaccine until 2011.
View on H1N1: Government over-promises, under-delivers on flu shots – http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/10/debate-on-h1n1-our-view-government-overpr
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci was talking with fellow federal officials in September, a month before swine flu vaccinations were to begin, when it became clear they had a bigger problem than they feared with supplies.
As we got closer and closer, they said, ‘Oh, my God, we’re not going to make it,’ ” Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview
A Nation Battling Flu, and Short Vaccine Supplies – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/health/26flu.html?pagewanted=all
AMA, American College of Emergency Medicine, American College of Pediatricians, American Medical Association, CDC, complications of Swine Flu, disease prevention, disease treatment, flu, flu vaccines, H1N1, H1N1 Flu, health, health news, health officials, health threats, illness, immunization, medical news, medicine news, news, Novel H1N1 Flu, pandemic, pandemic news, President Obama, prevention, research, Sebelius, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Swine Flu, swine flu deaths, swine flu immunization, Swine flu news, vaccine, vaccine availability, vaccine distribution, vaccine producers, vaccine production, vaccine shortages, vaccines, virus