Bush’s Rx for flu: profits before people

President George W. Bush has announced plans to guard the public against bird flu. A close look at his $7.1 billion proposal reveals that the number-one priority is to protect drug company profits.

Very little of the money will go to local communities. The plan clearly ignores the specific needs of working families and communities of color. In the event of a worldwide epidemic (pandemic) outbreak of avian influenza, the Bush plan has the potential of recreating the hardships that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but on an even greater scale.

There is great concern that an epidemic of the flu virus known as H5N1, now raging among wild birds and poultry, may jump to humans. The core of Bush’s plan is to pay drug companies to manufacture vaccine and antiviral medication in much larger amounts than are now available.

Vaccine would be used to prevent infections with flu, and antivirals would limit the severity of illness once someone caught the virus.

A big problem with manufacturing vaccine is that it must match the specific form of the virus to be effective. H5N1 vaccine, now in development, may not be as useful against the virus if it shifts to humans. Also, if a worldwide outbreak of flu happens, there will be little time to do extensive safety and effectiveness testing.

A key provision in Bush’s plan is to create blanket liability protection for the drug companies—which means they could not be sued if their vaccine products caused harm. The big pharmaceuticals have been pushing for this for years, and are using fear of a flu pandemic to get it passed. It is similar to how Bush used the Katrina disaster as an excuse to try to suspend the Davis-Bacon Act, which guarantees prevailing wages for construction work by government contractors.

The Bush plan also chooses to ignore the monopoly on patent rights on the antiviral medications, such as Tamiflu, that some believe will be most effective against avian flu. According to international law, governments can suspend patent rights and force companies to allow manufacture of generic versions in case of a public health emergency. However, the U.S. government, across administrations, has fought hard against other countries that have tried to introduce such emergency measures, for example with regard to HIV/AIDS medications.

Other gaps in the plan are as wide and deep as the holes in the broken levees that were meant to protect New Orleans.

The administration hinted broadly that flu-stricken communities might be put under quarantine or that workers with symptoms might be forced to stay home. Schools and childcare centers might be closed because children easily pass the flu among themselves. But such “plans” ignore the realities of life of millions of working and poor people who live check-to-check. Many workers don’t get paid sick leave, or if they do, it’s just for a few days.

Where will they get money for food, rent and utilities? If children must stay home, what will working parents do for childcare? If people are quarantined in their homes or communities, how will they get food, medications and other necessities?

During the hurricanes, the government told people to evacuate but had no plans to help those without cars or travel money and no plans to provide food and water to those who were stranded. Racism and poverty made the difference between who got out and who suffered or died.

The government could demand that all bosses pay workers who have to stay home, either because they are ill, have to take care of children or some other flu-related emergency.

The government could arrange for local supermarkets to distribute free or subsidized supplies for those who need them.

Such emergency measures are common sense but challenge the capitalist credo that profits and property rights are more important than people’s lives. So instead of developing plans to address the hardships that widespread illness, quarantine and isolation will undoubtedly create, Bush has proposed instead to place troops in the neighborhoods to enforce order.

This thinly disguised version of martial law will undoubtedly be concentrated in communities of color. The occupation of New Orleans with mercenaries and soldiers may be only a hint of what the Bush regime is planning for the country in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak.

Next: Is a flu pandemic likely?