No flu vaccine aid from Canada is likely, as issue becomes political

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday night that Canadian help was on the way to relieve the flu vaccine shortage. But America's top health official and other experts said Thursday that getting more supplies of vaccine from Canada is unlikely.

There isn't enough time for U.S. regulators to approve a Canadian vaccine, and Canada doesn't have enough to spare, they said.

Bush in Wednesday's debate said discussions with Canada would "help us realize the vaccine necessary to make sure our citizens have got flu vaccinations during this upcoming season."

After the debate Bush aides made it sound like help from Canada was a good bet.

But the next morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson told reporters that it was "doubtful" that a Canadian flu vaccine - or a German one - could get Food and Drug Administration approval in time for this influenza season........more......

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/9920538.htm

[Maple]

1. Sigh....

we have plenty of it in Canada. Free clinics everywhere.

I don't want one...I wish I could pass it along to someone in the US that does.

[Skittles]

31. thanks Maple

you are a sweetie-pie

[MADem]

2. This is Canada's way of telling our fearless leader

...hey weecowboy, if you don't let us sell reasonably priced drugs to your grammas and grampas, we won't give you the vaccine you need. Funny how Canadian drugs are only unsafe when they cost more in the States, but when we don't have enough, they'll do just fine.

[xxqqqzme]

3. U have 2 B careful

those drugs from Canada will kill U!

[Maple]

4. Yeah, we noticed that

all 32 million of us. :eyes:

[cjm2222]

5. Did anyone else see the report

on Global TV news (I'm in Vancouver). I think the report said if Canada does sell its drugs to people in the US, then we could run out for ourselves. I swear I saw it. Did anyone else or am I imagining this?

[lastliberalintexas]

22. Scare tactics of pharma

There would be plenty of medicine for Canadians if you were able to sell to US residents. Don't buy the hype.

[Princess Turandot]

29. although I think they try to match the production to the expected need..

since the vaccine often changes from year to year based on public health estimates of which flu is most likely to be rampant. I don't know if they overstock the stuff if they don't expect to export it to begin with.

My assumption is that Canada would make sure it had enough for its own citizens before it would sell vaccine to anyone else.

[arikara]

23. I didn't see it but it doesn't surprise me

It only makes sense when you think about it, that if we are getting our supplies from the US and a certain amount has been negotiated for by our gov't and we turn around and sell that amount out of the country, then we won't have enough for our own people.

Now this isn't surprising at all because we do it with other commodities too. For example, we do it with natural gas, and with oil, we sell both down to the US even though we come up short ourselves. For these, once we started selling we have to continue because of the free trade agreements. I don't know if/how nafta would affect imported drugs, but you can bet that the pharmaceutical companies won't sell us any more than what they have to under the agreement because it loses them the massive profits that they are able to gouge out of the American people.

[Lisa]

26. that explains the heaps of corpses in the streets ...

And here I thought people had simply offed themselves in pique over the lack of NHL hockey this year.

[Monte Carlo]

6. Canadian drugs are safe now, all of a sudden...

... what an amazing coincidence.

[susu369]

11. Flip Flop bu$h*

from Debate #2 versus Debate #3....

[TheCentepedeShoes]

7. Oooohh

Now Bushyboy wants to invade Canada and steal their flu vaccine. In all seriousness, you friends to the north, do what's in you own best interest. We'll take care of things on Nov. 2.

[DemBones DemBones]

8. I wish I could get a flu shot. They were giving free shots

at a local Kroger store yesterday. On the phone, they said if we got there by ten, we shouldn't have any problems getting one of the fifty shots they had. When we got there a little before ten, we learned that some yoyos had shown up at 4:30 a.m. and so they started giving the shots at 7:30. We were not the only ones who had been told that getting there by ten would almost guarantee a flu shot.

As I recall, we only went at 6 a.m. to get Rolling Stones tickets. . . And we got them, in the middle of the 15th row. 4:30 a.m. to get a flu shot would never have occurred to me.

Our doctor's probably not going to get any vaccine this year so I, and all the others with chronic health problems, will just have to trust to luck on the flu this year. Funny how when you already have three good reasons (i.e. chronic conditions) for deserving a flu shot, your chances of not getting the flu don't look as good as when you have no health problems. Is luck going to be on my side here, or dump on me again?

[CBHagman]

18. I feel for you.

Please keep trying. I know it's horrible out there, but maybe there will be some solution.

I am in the same boat as you are. The cops were called out to deal with the crowds at a local supermarket when masses of people showed up for the flu shots. Ours aren't free, and the flu clinics are usually posted online and in brochures at the drugstores and supermarkets and hospitals.

Well, one of our leading hospitals has cancelled its flu clinic until further notice. There's no vaccine. My internist is in the same boat, at least for the moment. Giant supermarkets have been distributing the vaccine, but if you don't line up early and get a number, you're out of luck.

I'm in a risk group and work six days a week. There's virtually no chance that I can line up for a shot, and of course I don't want to jump in front of the seniors.

Wouldn't you just love to give a piece of your mind to Bush, Tommy Thompson, and the heads of the FDA and CDC? I swear their ears would melt right off the sides of their heads if they ever heard what I'd like to say to them right now...they've cluster-screwed us.

[leftchick]

9. You mean chimpy Lied again?

how many does that make in just that one debate? A lie for every question?

[LizW]

10. He just makes it up whenever he feels like it

and assumes the media is too corrupt or lazy to find out the truth, and the people will never know the difference.

That flu vaccine answer was one of the good ones for Bush during the debate. He sounded like he was doing something about the problem, like he was taking action to remedy a crisis.

But, whoops! Small detail ---- it's FANTASY!!! There's no vaccine coming from Canada or any other country. Bush has no plan to help the Americans who need the vaccine. He just talked a good game, and there's absolutely nothing to back it up.

What a shocker. NOT.

[SidDithers]

12. We don't have enough to make up for the shortfall in the US...

If i recall, 48 million doses were rejected by the US from one supplier because of possible contamination, and the other supplier was at full capacity and not able to supply additional doses.

The Canadian company that makes flu vaccines, ID Biomedicals, after supplying the Canadian market, has only 1 million extra doses.

Sid

[TahitiNut]

15. "rejected by the US"? Wrong!

The "US" had nothing to do with it. The British health authorities halted the distribution of vaccine due to dangerous contamination of that vaccine. "US authorities" actually tried influencing the British to get some of it released despite the danger posed - clearly a political effort, not a qualitative one.

[SidDithers]

16. I stand corrected...

but my point was not about who decided the vaccines were or were not safe for use. It was that Canada cannot supply 48 million doses to make up for the shortfall. At best, there are 1 million extra doses available.

Sid

[TahitiNut]

19. No argument there. (I can drive over to Canada, though.)

:evilgrin: People within 40-50 miles of either Canada or Mexico can easily get flu shots.

I'd be willing to bet that there's not more than a handful of people in families with annual earnings over $200K who'll go without a flu shot. It's the people in the "bottom 80%" who'll die from the flu this year.

[MADem]

27. THE COMPANY WAS AMERICAN

Bush told a SLEW of lies during that exchange, to wit:

--The company was AMERICAN, not English.

--The factory owned by the US company was in Britain.

--THE BRITISH found the PROBLEM, not us--the BRITS were the ones who shut the place down due to contamination.

--Bush said the CANADIANS, who make those 'unsafe' drugs for seniors, would help us out.

--The Canadians basically told weecowboy to go screw himself.

Error after error, lie after lie. This idiot son of an asshole needs to go, NOW.

[smirf]

32. Chiron flu vaccines rejected by health officials in USA

In The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/

'With Few Suppliers of Flu Shots, Shortage Was Long in Making'
Published: October 17, 2004

"...What Happened at Chiron

"Chiron acquired the Liverpool factory in 2003 through its purchase of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals, a British company, for $878 million.

"...But the factory was aging and had been through a series of owners, and it had also had some quality control problems. Still, Chiron rapidly expanded production there.

"...In June 2003, just as Chiron was buying the factory, an F.D.A. inspection found quality control problems similar to what the British government found this year: bacterial contamination in vaccine in the early production stages but not in the final product after sterilization.

"...Chiron has said it is now under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York and by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The investigations are apparently concerned with whether the company misled investors and federal health authorities about the conditions at its factory. The company, while saying it would cooperate with the investigations, has denied any deception.

"...But inspectors from both Britain and the F.D.A. disagreed, saying they could not be confident that Chiron had identified all the sources of contamination. On Friday, health officials in the United States said that none of the vaccine in the plant could be salvaged.

more...

Please spread the facts.

[Lerkfish]

13. so, I guess that was an "exaggameration", then.

;)

[tanyev]

14. Georgie,

When you need favors from countries you need to wait to insult them until after you receive the desired favor. Didn't they teach that in Bullying 101? Or were you sleeping off a hangover that day?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

17. Oh, that Chimpy! What a card! Always making up stories on the fly!!....

Still thinks he's a cheerleader.

Delusional.

Whacked-out.

Nuttier than a fruitcake.

A charter member of the Disenchanted Kingdom.

Wigged-out.

More f'd up than Hogan's goat.

[progressivebydesign]

20. This is a HUGE issue!!!!!

Around my town, the signs everywhere saying that there will be NO flu shots this year!! ANd cancellations of flu shot clinics. Seniors are getting worried.. and they should! My mom, who has severe asthma and other ailments absolutely NEEDS that flu shot.. but even her own doctor said he has NONE this year.. Bush can say that the elderly and the sick can get shots.. BUT WHERE, ASSHOLE? WHERE???

SOmeone here on DU posted that she LIED to get a shot for her little kid, pretending the child had an ailment that made it more crucial. She took a shot away from someone's grandparent, parent, child, who really DOES have a life-threatening condition. If this is what we're seeing already, you think there will really be enough vaccine to go around for those that REALLY need it??

Thousands of seniors lining up in parking lots hoping to get a flu shot, only to see it run out??

The government fucked up on this. They should have been on top of this, considering LAST year when supplies were WAY TOO short, and people had to go without. I nearly fell off my chair yelling at the tv when Bush had the fucking audacity to say that Canada would bail us out with vaccine.. after TRASHING their drugs and saying they were unsafe for AMericans. WIth all the price gouging going on right now with the flu vaccine, it's OBVIOUS who has Bush in their backpocket.

Flu shots are something that millions of seniors count on each year... there will be widespread panic soon on this, when flu season kicks in. Watch for some really ugly scenes at the flu clinics that ARE held.. I fear for what might happen.

[MsAnthropy]

21. How inept do you have to be to piss off Canada?

We are totally alone in the world because of *.

[shaolinmonkey]

24. Exactly, buy them a beer, be polite and respectful.

Hockey and curling are fine sports. Any job openings up there? Anything?

[Moondog]

25. Another fine mess . . .

. . . outsourcing has brought. This is really, really pathetic. Even for Chimpy the Cheerleader.

[Occulus]

28. We're already dying because of this and sadly it will only get worse

WHILE waiting IN LINE for the vaccine!!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=2&u=/ap/flu_vaccine_death

LAFAYETTE, Calif. - A 79-year-old woman who stood in line outside a supermarket for more than five hours waiting for a flu shot collapsed and later died, the woman's daughter said.

Marie Franklin stood with her husband and hundreds of other seniors outside a Safeway supermarket Wednesday but collapsed when she left the line to seek shade, striking her head, said Ginni Poulos, Franklin's daughter.

Franklin died from her injuries on Thursday, according to the country coroner's office.

---

Ok, soooo.... we can't get drugs from Canada, even though Bush* said we'd be able to, and FURTHERMORE...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20041015/ca_pr_on_na/cross_border_flu_shots_2

TORONTO (CP) - With a massive shortage of influenza vaccine in the United States, Americans living near the border may be contemplating a cross-border trip for a flu shot this fall.

But the president of the Canadian Medical Association urged Canadian doctors to remember their first duty this influenza season is to their own patients.

"The vaccine shortage problem . . . that they now have in the States or elsewhere in the world is not for us here to fix or sort out," Dr. Albert Schumacher said in an interview Friday.

---

Oh good Christ. Can't someone sue for wrongful death or something, and MAKE this a public issue*? We are really down the rabbit hole here, folks... so much so that we can no loner see the light at the entry.

This all bodes very badly for things to come.

*The echo chamber is already drowning this out. Wrongful death suits are..... sexy. *SIGH*

[illuminaughty]

30. All those people voting for * because they trust him to keep them safe

Has anyone brought up this issue? That this is the same admin. that told us how ready homeland security is in the event of an attack. That they had planned for all different scenarios and had anthrax, smallpox vaccines etc. and could be mobilized to be anywhere in the country in minutes?

Now it seems that they can't even protect us for what we already know is coming. The fucking flu. No backup plan. How safe does that make people feel?

The elderly are in wheelchairs waiting 8 hours to get a flu shot. My 82 year old mother will have to forfeit hers. The only thing this administration is competent at is killing people. Once again, where's the outrage?