WHO: Flu Vaccine Shortage Only in U.S.

[NNN0LHI]

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Living/ap20031209_1002.html

World Health Organization Says Flu Vaccine Shortage Is Only a Problem in U.S.

GENEVA Dec. 9 — The World Health Organization said Tuesday that it is aware of reports of flu vaccine running out in areas of the United States, but said supplies appear to be adequate around the world.

Spokesman Iain Simpson said the U.N. health agency had heard the Centers for Disease Control were looking into the possibility of a vaccine shortage in the United States.

"But as far as we're aware globally, no there's no shortage," said Simpson.

Health authorities in different parts of the United States said they were running out of flu vaccine after demand soared because of reports that this year's epidemic was having a heavier impact than usual. Shortages have also been reported in Singapore.

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[cthrumatrix]

1. I heard the shot is NOT effective vs. the current srain of virus

either way...it's not good

It's a good thing the US pays more for drugs then any other country in the world...you think we would have "some benefit" offered by the drug companies who claim "cost".

[Fridays Child]

5. It provides some protection and, if you still get the flu, it will be...

...a much milder case.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. That's what we're being told...but we're being told a lot of things...

...these days, most of them outright lies.

If the flu shot is providing "some protection", why are so many people becoming ill so early in the flu season?

[info being]

15. Exactly

I take anything coming out of our healthcare establishment with a grain of salt. The best policy is usually to do the opposite of what they recommend.

[Stuckinthebush]

21. Really?

I would consider that action to be one of folly. The health care industry consists of many dedicated scientists, epidemiologists, and health care professionals. These individuals have the main duty to protect our health.

The vaccine will provide some protection from the strain of flu out and about today. This is because this flu strain is strongly related to the strain used to make the vaccine. When vaccinated, your body builds up antibodies to fight the infectious agent. When re-infected, those antibodies attack swiftly. If you have no antibodies for this type of flu, then your body will have to develop them as it is fighting off the flu. Not a good scenario. The vaccine gives your body a head start in that direction.

Get the vaccine...it could save your life.

[DemVet]

24. Hey, nobody's forcing you to get it.

Did it ever occur that the people getting sick are the ones who haven't gotten the shot?

There are categories of people that should get the vaccination. It is in their best interest. I take immuno-suppression medication and am vulnerable to every stinkin' bug that comes along. I received my shot this past Monday. :toast:

[thinkingwoman]

23. that's NOT what health experts say

they say it "may" provide "some" protection.

In other words...it will do diddly squat.

I don't believe the shortage nonsense either. I believe it's just a ruse to get people panicky that they'll miss out on the shot that "may" provide "some" protection so that the drug companies can sell enough of those worthless shots to still make a nice profit.

[54anickel]

2. Hmmm, Time for the tin foil hat? Add yesterdays post re. SARS

to this US and Singapore shortage.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=260846

Nah, they wouldn't go that far, would they? :tinfoilhat:

[PinkTiger]

11. You guys are scaring me.

I just read that, and on top of John Titor (www.johntitor.com) this is all I need. I think I will go back to bed with my head under the covers, thank you.

[jokerman93]

16. Oh Please Please Please!

Keep your heads on folks.

Pink Tiger, I know how you feel. But try to remember that John Titor is a fictional character in an Internet based Guerilla Theater project that was developed on the "Back to the Future" Time Travel scenario. It is not real. I've read all the Titor material. It's fantasy. So are vampire slayers and powerful Wiccan witches. I'm not making fun of you Pink Tiger, I'm concerned that so many people are afraid because anything seems possible now and most of us are experiencing a terrible cognative dissonance as a result of this ocean of media propaganda we're struggling not to drown in. More and more, the official story defies obvious reality and factual truth. No wonder we're disoriented and tend to fear!

Question this Titor thing as much as you question the PNAC cabal in the White House. If you accept in "Titor's" premises, then you are also predisposed to believe that the Bush dictatorship or its cognates will prevail in the end. Hope dies, we are slaves of fear. See the connection that can be made in the psyche?

Please, insist on proof. Insist on fact checking. Insist on knowledge. Those are the weapons we have -- our capacity for clarity and critical thinking in the face of all the known unkowns and unknown knowns. (You know what I'm getting at!)

Please don't give into hysteria people! Public fear is the object of terrorism. Yes, I think the PNACs are not above engineering and exploiting social change -- including change brought about by a health crisis.

On the other hand, is the SARS Corona virus a manufactured bio-weapon? Maybe. Maybe not. But we probably will never know. Lets deal with what we do have control over.

We should be angry and we should act on that anger politically and socially, but let us not fear!

Please!

[tom_paine]

18. Well said, jokerman!

:toast:

[izzie]

3. Makes you want to give the drug company more power, right?

That is one of the places that really turn me ill, how they get the flu shots.It is from animals. Just awful

[ender]

13. bah...

whatever - there is a huge advantage gained by getting the vaccine.

sorry - i dont have sympathy for animals - especially regarding getting vaccines and medicines from using them.

i mean - what about getting smallpox vaccine from cowpox?

or insulin from animal remains?

i dont really give a shit about the poor animals - hell, i think they taste good.

[NickB79]

25. It's from a fertilized egg

They infect a fertilized chicken egg, allow the virus to incubate for several weeks, and then crack the egg to develop a vaccine from it. Calling these eggs animals is the same as calling month-old human fetuses babies.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

4. A Niche for Dean

As a Doctor he should address this. It will appeal to the Old and the Middle Age (who have young kids).

[chiburb]

6. U.S. Considers Importing Influenza Vaccine

Snip:
The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that they were exploring ways to import influenza vaccine from Europe and redistribute supplies to meet any shortages in this country.

"We have a gap between what we wish we had and what we have," Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the centers in Atlanta, said.

Dr. Gerberding added that health officials were "just doing the best we can to try to get vaccine to the people who need it the most."

A shortage seems to exist in some regions while supplies appear adequate in others, she said in a telephone news conference. She did not specify the areas.

(But... But... I thought imported drugs were dangerous. I'm so confused...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/10/health/10FLU.html

[Code_Name_D]

7. Just as long as its not from Canada nt

:P

[kskiska]

20. You mean we're going to have to beg Europe for medicine?

Does Europe actually have something we need? Too bad we just shut them out of those Iraqi contracts.

[bushh8ter]

8. OK here are two problems with the flu vaccine and the

hype surrounding it.

1. The news keeps reporting the shortage of flu vaccine shots BUT they are touting the nasal flu vaccine spray which is more EXPENSIVE and not in a shortage.
2. WHY is there a shortage only in the US?


Makes me wonder if this is yet again a normal flu season but the makers of the new handy dandy nasal spray stand to gain from this shortage of vaccine. No tin-foil just paranoid from the past three years of lies told for profit.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. perhaps the shortage in the US

is due to much higher demand. Posters here in DU are talking about jabs for their young children. In the UK, it tends to be only the elderly who go for non job-related flu vaccination, and they always try to encourage this early (it's free, at least for the elderly, and this presumably means they have a better idea of how many shost are needed each year) with a big advertising campaign.

[jokerman93]

17. This is a more plausible scenario

Marketing of the nasal spray plus great demand for the vaccine in America.

[Neshanic]

12. It's the new way that they want us to get used to.

The nasal spray is what our pharmaceutical companies want us to get used to having. With a doughnut hole, like the new Medicare fiasco, it is too scrumptous for the nasal delivery method makers to ignore.

Other countries have no problem because they have slapped down the phamaceuticals and vaccine is part of their health system. We on the other hand are virgin territory for not only dividing into the "have and have-nots", but further diving to get maximum profit. Look for all years after this for the nasal mode to be only one that will be plentifull and available for the dougnut-hole age groups, and the vaccine for the young, and the old.

[donsu]

14. as I have said before, the pharms are running a scam

that there is no way in hell they just happened not to have enough flu vaccine.

[Waistdeep]

19. I heard that they produced 83 million doses

and that the U.S. has never used more than 80 million doses before. Although I am inclined to believe that almost anything that the pharmaceutical industry does is a scam, what is your evidence that there is one?

[NickB79]

26. 12 million doses thrown away last year

Last year they produced 95 million vaccine doses, but were forced to throw away 12 million due to lack of demand. They couldn't have predicted that the flu would be more powerful this year, so they simply went off past experiences and made as much as was used last year.

[markus]

22. So, can I get my flue shot in Canada? Legally?

Looks like the Free Market triumphs once again. Sorry about the dead kids, folks, but you should have got in line when we told you.

[SoCalDem]

27. Two words.. "Private Sector"

and two more..

Greedy Bastards