Looking for your H1N1 Vaccine? Don't worry Goldman Sachs has it

[walldude]

CitiGroup too. You know because Wall Street firms are full of at risk children and elderly.

"To the list of hundreds of schools, hospitals, and community health centers that have received limited allocations of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, you can now add some of New York's largest employers. In the past week or so 13 companies, including Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS), have begun receiving small quantities of the vaccine, according to city health authorities.

Citigroup has been supplied with 1,200 units and Goldman with 200, says Jessica Scaperotti, press secretary for the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. The agency has so far approved orders by 29 employers—including 16 that have yet to receive any vaccine—after they were cleared by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). Big employers that have received or are scheduled to receive vaccine so far include Time Warner (TWX), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Memorial Sloan-Kettering, New York Presbyterian Healthcare System, and New York University."

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2009/db2009112_606442.htm

[mn9driver]

1. Just another confirmation of who owns the United States now.

I just checked my pediatrician and the state of Minnesota web sites. There is no H1N1 vaccine available to the public here.

None.

I have at-risk children in my house. This thing has already killed 4 times the normal number of children as compared to a regular flu season here. But Goldman Sachs players can rest easy; there are no worries about such things when you are part of the ruling class.

[Igel]

2. It varies by state.

Oddly, http://www.health.state.mn.us/cgi-bin/idepc/fluschedule/fluclinic_search.cgi seems to show a fair number of locations that are likely to have H1N1 vaccine.

There are a number of issues involved. The first is how it should be distributed and the second is who should get the vaccine.

The distribution goes like this. Clinics request vaccine, whether public or for profit. Local public health authorities forward approved requests to the state, which forwards approved requests to the CDC. The CDC owns all the vaccine and then ships it to the clinics that the states requested receive vaccine. Ideally, they ship the quantity requested. Everybody's allocations were reduced.

So Goldman Sachs has a clinic, they requested NY City for vaccine, NYC asked NY State, and NYS forwarded it to the CDC. Any clinic could request it. Not every clinic had their allocations approved. It worked the same in Minnesota. And in Texas. CDC tried to ensure some sort of geographic/population-density equity.

My son's pediatrician, in an office with 5 or 6 other pediatricians, got no vaccine. Their request wasn't approved. The local public clinic got more than it needed, so it said that it was expanding its range to those eligible for the public clinic's services but not in the groups initially targetted in order to not let the vaccine spoil. Result: Some kids couldn't get the vaccine easily and efficiently while some adults in less at-risk groups got free vaccine. Why? Because the local government decided. After all, this entire thing is government run after the vaccine leaves the manufacturer.

The only other important factor was efficiency in reached the targetted populations. Goldman Sachs apparently can easily get the vaccine to 1200 at-risk people. From a public health perspective those are merely kids, pregnant women, etc., who should receive the vaccine in any event. The only advantage they have is convenience--but that's Goldman Sachs' doing since they have a clinic of their own for employees and their day care. In Houston pharmacies with the vaccine are trying to partner with employers over a certain size for the same reason: It's easier to go to a business and vaccine 50 people there than it is to wait for 50 people to show up for the shot.

Now, I can come up with two reasons for why my kid's pediatrician had no vaccine yet the local grocery store did. And that is political: From a public health perspective the 150 kids that my pediatrician's office sees each day is just 150 kids, but all of them have parents with insurance or who can afford the pediatrician visit--and the supermarket shot is cheap. So there's the obvious response--why serve the privileged, even if it is with vaccine that's entirely taxpayer funded? But a better rationale is this: The pediatrician's 150 kids per day includes a lot of sick kids, while the impromptu clinic giving shots at the supermarket can see far more than 150 healthy kids a day. The ultimate idea isn't to get any particular class--it's just to not waste vaccine and get as many in the target population as possible. From a public health perspective your kids are just as important as those of a Goldman Sachs' janitor or investment banker, and vice-versa, the kid at the supermarket just as important as my kid. The supermarket and Goldman Sachs are efficient, so they win.

[mn9driver]

3. All good reasons why we can't get the vaccine and Goldman can.

Thanks for taking the time to write such an informative response. That said, this is in the header of the web page you linked to for Minnesota:

"If you are wondering about 2009 H1N1 vaccine, please note: no H1N1 vaccine is available yet for the public. Please check back later."