Flu ça change, la même

"Where's My Flu Shot?" the Wall Street Journal editors were asking rhetorically nearly a year ago -- December of 2003, long before the current scarcity precipitated by contamination of a British supply of the egg-borne magic potion. Here's what they were saying then:

A few weeks from now, when the country has run out of flu vaccine and people want to know why, we suggest they knock on the doors of Senators Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Lincoln Chafee. Perhaps the three Republicans can explain when they intend to honor their promise to hold an open debate about the tort liabilities facing vaccine makers.

The reason for today's shortage -- as well as seven previous preventive vaccine shortages since 2000 -- is that there are just five vaccine makers. This lack of suppliers is partly thanks to Hillary Clinton, who as first lady turned government into the majority buyer of vaccines and pushed prices so low as to make business unsustainable. (This price-control approach, we'd note, is what Democrats would now like to inflict on the new Medicare drug program.)

But just as worrying to manufacturers is an explosion of class action lawsuits. Vaccine makers are supposed to be protected from suits by 1986 legislation, but tort lawyers have found loopholes and filed more than 200 cases. The Republican leadership fixed this by including a liability provision in the Homeland Security legislation of a year ago. That is, until Ms. Snowe, Ms. Collins and Mr. Chafee objected to its "dark of the night" insertion and forced Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist into repealing it.

The only two suppliers of flu shots reported Friday that supplies are running out. The Centers for Disease Control is now urging health-care providers to reserve the shots for those most at risk. That leaves millions worrying that someone in their family might be next to die from a bad case of flu.

That was last December and brings us down to our own dog in this fight. Octogenarian Energizer Bunny Goomp is worried sick about not being able to get his flu shot for the first time in years. That is our first priority. His own doctor cavalierly told him no. At Goomp's behest, we called a beloved family friend who happens to be a physician, and though she soothed us beyond measure with her tender bedside manner, she wasn't able to give us access either. Then we saw something on FOXNews this morning that said call the CDC at 1-800-232-2522, so we did -- got through remarkably quickly and were given the number of a local -- county -- health center that may be able to tell Goomp where he can get the vaccine he seeks. He'll call them later this morning, and we'll see what we shall see.*

But back to plus/flu ça change, plus la même, here was the Wall Street Journal just the other day, saying essentially the same thing it had last December:

Americans are angry about the sudden shortage of flu vaccine , and well they should be. But we hope they don't fall for the current story line that this is all the fault of a single company and its British factory. The real problem lies with a political class that has driven all but a handful of companies out of the vaccine business

Today there are only two significant makers of flu vaccine for the U.S. market, Aventis-Pasteur and Chiron Corp., which now finds itself besieged by federal subpoenas. The closing of Chiron's plant removes some 48 million vaccine doses (or about half the U.S. market) and puts that many more seniors and children at risk from a disease that kills 36,000 Americans a year.

Whether or not Chiron disclosed enough about its manufacturing woes is an issue of financial regulation. The main question for public health ought to be how did we arrive at a place where closing a single plant can endanger so many people?

There's so much more to this story, from projected productivity losses due to unprotected workers' coming down with the flu and staying home, to just how effective IS the vaccine, after all, when you think of two things: One, sometimes the vaccine isn't exactly the right one for the specific flu that comes down the pike, and two (related to conversations with our veterinarians in the last period of time) sometimes a vaccine might compromise the body's immune system, doing more harm than good. That last one, in particular, is huge and something we're looking into.

*Update: CDC gave us a number of local county health centers to call, but to a one they could be of no assistance. No flu vaccine on the horizon. Too bad the CDC folks -- who were just lovely to talk to but totally useless -- don't have a centralized database they could have referred to and thereby spared us the waste of our time calling the locals.

Comments

[Sissy Willis]

Smack in the middle of posting when the ever-unreliable TypePad goes AWOL again. How can we get any work done, fergossake?

[Sissy Willis]

TypePad (Movable Type) is a deeply unsatisfactory service. When it's good, it's very very good, but when out of the blue it suddenly isn't there, there's nothing you can do. We were cut off this morning in the middle of blogging and have been helpless for over an hour. When you write a "help" ticket (once the service is available again), they ask, with a sunny smile, "Is everything okay now?" Gak city. 'Wish we had enough get-up-and-go to just get out of here and subscribe to another service.

[The Proprietor]

There's always Blogger...

Semi-kidding, although Google has gotten it light-years beyond what it used to be.

Latest news is that we may be able to get some vaccine from Canadian sources. I would think that people in their 80s would be high on the list. There is also a hospital around here that is giving flu shots to people who are being admitted (for other issues). Do you think Goomp is up to faking a few symptoms and spending a night in the hospital.

(No, I am not serious.)

Every year's vaccine is a crap shoot when it comes to being effective. Some are closer matches than others, but even the weaker ones provide some protection. There is also an inhaled vaccine out there, although they only recommend it for healthy adults.

[Teresa]

Would you like me to nominate you to become a Munuvian? Pixy is a fabulous adminstrator. I moved over from typepad just because of this. I have the old site up until January - but then it will be gone (I paid for my year in advance not knowing all the problems and slow downs that would occur)

Anyhow, email me if you want more info!