Who is to be blamed for shortage of flu vaccines?

[shawn703]

I was wondering where the blame should lie as far as flu vaccine shortage this year... whether it was the vaccine manufacturers decision to not produce as much, or if it was the CDC's decision to not ask for as much to be produced, maybe because of a cut budget or something like that. Sorry, I'm totally ignorant on how this thing works every year, but I can't see why someone would gamble with American lives when it comes to determining how much vaccine to produce. I would wager that more people will die of the flu this year than will die in terror attacks, yet we spend all this money checking reading lists and so on.

[Touchdown]

1. Limpballs said it was Bill & Hillary Clinton

:eyes:. I flipped the station during his wild explanaitions, right after "I'm not making this up, Folks!".

[demnan]

2. It doesn't really matter

the vaccine doesn't cover the serious flu that's going around this year.

[shawn703]

3. I thought I read somewhere they knew it was coming

This Fiji strain - that they knew it was there but decided not to include it in the vaccine for some reason or another...

[SaveElmer]

11. It still protects you somewhat

They have to make a judgement about what strains are goingto be prevelent. The strain about 2/3 of people are coming down with is not included in the vaccine. But it is a close relative and will provide a significant amount of protection. It may not prevent you from getting the flu, but it will lessen the symptoms quite a bit. The other 1/3 are covered byt he strain in the vaccine.

As to who is to blame, I think a combination of the government and the media for downplaying the effects of the flu. While it is not a serious disease to most people, it does kill a large number of people every year who are especially vulnerable (elderly, very young, the ill). Not to mention the billions of dollars in lost productivity. If the gov. had a good systematic vaccination program for the flu, it could save the U.S. a ton of money.

[chiburb]

4. The media...

15-30,000 people die EVERY year due to flue. But the missing ND girl has been gone 2 weeks now, and there's nothing new with MJ.

[DUreader]

5. This has happened the last 2 or 3 years , maybe more

One year recently some big corporations bought up much of the supply

for their employees who were in general lower risk than the young, old

and infirm.

One thing is sure, short supply = higher profits

The US is the only '1st world' country with this problem.

Why indded.

[Beer Snob-50]

6. Of course

it was the Clintons. They murdered people, stole all the silver out of the White House, and gave their daughter Hillary to Senator Byrd for the night in exchange for his support during the impeachment hearings. (no flaming pleeze. this is sarcasm!!)

[Bertha Venation]

7. Blame?

There's blame to be placed? Can we trace it to a prank email sent by a bored lower-level scientist somewhere in the basement at the CDC? Is a Congressional investigation in the offing?

I'm not sure it's necessary to place blame. I'm ignorant of the process too, but I rather doubt that someone or some entity was cutting back or misplaced a decimal or had some kind of sinister intent.

[shawn703]

10. It is necessary

If 70,000 or so people may die this year because of a shortage of flu vaccine, because some company didn't think it would be good for their bottom line, or someone else thought government money would be better off in the hands of the rich instead of into the production of needed vaccines. Probably not anything sinister going on, but it sure seems negligent.

[PretzelWarrior]

8. here are some top answers: who's to blame?

GOP: "It was Clinton's fault"

Coulter: "The Liberals hate healthy people. They did it."

DU: "the dam corporate media did it with their hype."

Libertarians: "the f*cking government. they can't get ANYTHING right except how to screw us out of our money."

Falwell: "the flu is god's mark indicating you are cursed. <cough> <cough>--I mean the chosen."

Neocons: "The arabs. it's the Arabs who created this flu of mass destruction. We will find the perpetrators in France and use any form of destruction necessary to eradicate it."

[Dookus]

9. From what I've read....

there really is no blame to be placed. In fact, it's more accurate to describe the situation as an increased demand for vaccines, rather than a shortage of them.

This year, they made as many or more as they usually make. Last year they destroyed millions of unused vaccines.

Flu vaccine creation is more art than science. They have to try to predict which strains of the flu will become prevalent. Most years they get it right, this year they didn't.

The BIG issue that nobody addresses is that we could virtually end influenza by changing farming practices in Asia. It's the proximity of fowl and swine that leads to the flu each year. Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to change that?

[Bread and Circus]

18. Glad to see a Clark supporter get it right...

It's just that the flu came early this year and is a little
more dangerous than it has been the last couple of years (but not
in general). Pair that w/ mass hysteria created by the media
and voila -- shortage -- there you have it.

I have been running ads in my local paper for 3 months for folks
to get the flu shot. There was no shortage until the past 2 wks
after the media made a big deal of it. Last year I had to throw
a bunch away (running the same damn ads). This week, I get 50
calls everyday with people in a bloody panic.

[redqueen]

12. No single point to place blame

but yes, mostly manufacturers, if what I read is correct. Apparently this vaccine grows more slowly than other variants, and US manufacturers did not take that into account.

[kanrok]

13. As I understand it

The manufacturers exceeded production this year by 3 million doses, but still ran out. The virus they were expecting was not the one they ultimately got, and since the one that is prevalent now is probably non-reactive to the vaccine, it's probably academic anyway.

[velocity]

16. I understand the UK has the bad strain in their

production but we did not include it.

[Piltdown13]

14. My understanding is that production was at normal levels...

From what I've read, they produced 80 million doses this year, which makes sense given that the demand has historically only been for about that many. IOW, the strategy for the flu has never been to try to vaccinate everybody, but rather to vaccinate enough people that there won't be major epidemics. What appears to have caused the shortage is that flu season started several weeks early this year, coupled with the fact that at least one of the prevalent strains is more virulent than normal, attracting lots of attention in the media and prompting far more people than usual to request vaccination. IMHO, it's kind of hard to place any blame at all, because it's difficult to see how this turn of events could have been forecast early enough to allow for increased production of shots.

As far as the bad strains not being included -- well, that's a risk every year, because the decision on what strains to include in each year's vaccination has to be made long before it becomes obvious which strains will be prevalent that year. Epidemiologists have to make their best guess given the previous flu season's patterns and information from other parts of the world. I've also heard that it was felt that the really bad flu this year might be similar enough to one of the strains that IS in the vaccine that there should be some protection from it, but I'm not sure about that.

[Fleshdancer]

15. I blame the flu

It's a new strain, it's more dangerous than previously thought and there's no real way to correctly estimate how much vaccines are needed in advance.

[madddog]

17. supply .vs demand

if I heard NPR right, 8,000,000 doses of vaccine sat on manufacturer's shelves last year...so they decided to make less this year...once again, though, they did make 80 million doses for this year, iirc...it just looks like the flu came harder and earlier this year, and the media reports of the flu's severity sent folks like me out to get a shot for the first time ever. So I guess it's really MY fault :D.