Flu vaccine shortage not an accident
By Hillel Cohen
Nobody wants to catch the flu. Fever, fatigue, and aches and
pains will for most people mean missed days at work or school.
But for many, flu can be much worse. The Centers for Disease
Control estimates that 36,000 people in the United States die
every year from flu-related illness. About 200,000 will have to
be admitted to the hospital. And that's in "normal" times.
These are not normal times. British authorities shut down
flu vaccine production by the Chiron Corp. on Oct. 6 due to
"breaches of good manufacturing practice leading to possible
product contamination."
Chiron is a U.S. company whose vaccine factory is in
Britain. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had found
problems in the plant in June 2003 but had done nothing about
it until British inspectors acted in early October.
Chiron is one of only two companies that were producing flu
vaccine for the U.S. market. It was also a supplier for
Britain's vaccine needs.
British authorities had warned the U.S. government more than
a month earlier that Chiron might fail inspection, and the
British officials found other suppliers to make up production
in case Chiron was shut down.
The U.S. government, however, did nothing. Now half of the
anticipated vaccine--up to 48 million doses--will not be
available.
In other words, 48 million people in the United States who
would have gotten the vaccine will not.
This could be a huge problem for the elderly, pregnant
women, people with immune problems--people with AIDS, cancer,
Lupus and others. Depending on how severe the flu season is,
the number of deaths from flu this year could go way higher
than 36,000.
The government's lack of attention and resources for flu
vaccine can be considered deadly criminal negligence.
The Bush administration and other politicians are scrambling
to explain how this happened, but it should not be any
surprise. Problems in manufacturing and distribution led to
inadequate flu vaccine supplies in three of the four previous
flu seasons.
This shortage, however, is by far the worst. Since flu is
passed from person to person, the more people who get the flu
the more likely others will catch it. So-called "herd immunity"
prevents big outbreaks when a large proportion of a community
has been vaccinated.
With smaller numbers getting the vaccine there is a danger
that the spread of flu can be faster and greater than it has
been in many years. And that may mean tens of thousands more
deaths and hospitalizations, especially among the elderly and
those with weakened immune systems.
Even Wall Street is worried. An increased number of workers
out sick may cost U.S. big business billions of dollars in
production and profits.
Vaccine is now being rationed. It is supposed to be reserved
for the elderly and others at greatest risk from flu. However,
Republicans and Democrats in Congress made sure they had enough
for themselves.
How did the vaccine shortage happen? The main reason is that
health care in the United States is based on a private profit
system.
Flu vaccines often have to be reformulated each year as the
genetic makeup of the flu viruses shifts. So vaccine patents
are not much use after a year or two.
Drug company profits from flu vaccine are modest. So only a
limited number of companies produce it despite the huge
need.
Also, the government spends very little on public health
education. So many people don't realize how dangerous flu can
be for some. With a national health system based on private
insurance, with millions uninsured, only about one-third of the
population even considers getting a flu shot.
In the last several years, the Bush and Clinton
administrations have pumped billions of dollars into research
and development of vaccines--but not for the flu. The money
went to R and D for vaccines for smallpox, anthrax and other
diseases that are supposedly potential bioterrorism agents but
that will likely never pose any risk to people in the United
States.
There hasn't been a single case of smallpox in the whole
world for more than 20 years. But the Bush administration
attempted a huge smallpox vaccination program as part of its
propaganda campaign for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At least
three people died from the side effects of that vaccine.
Even the anthrax spores that led to five deaths in 2001 have
been linked to a U.S. military laboratory.
All the resources spent for these bioterrorism preparedness
projects have left critically important public-health research
and service programs underfunded.
As long as health care is considered a commodity sold for
private profit, vaccines and other health products and services
will experience the same boom and bust, glut and shortage
cycles that are seen in other commodities like oil or food.
There may be efforts to make a quick fix for the flu
vaccine. But in the long run, the only way to really fix it is
to reorganize health care as a guaranteed right of all and not
a source of corporate profit.
Reprinted from the Nov. 4, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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