The Commissioner for the NYC Health Dept said yesterday that the Federal Government was to blame for this flu vaccine disaster. He said more, but I wasn’t willing to listen beyond this point as this alone made me angry. No blame was placed on Chiron or the decision of US drug companies to get out of the vaccine market years ago due to the federal constraints and interference.
Never mind that British officials were warning for almost a year now, that they might have to shut down Chiron, the 2nd largest flu vaccine maker in the world, for health and manufacturing violations. I get angry with this commissioner for laying blame elsewhere, when in this crisis could have been managed more effectively and with a more positive spin.
Instead of blaming George Bush, why not take responsibility for your failure to plan and find other alternatives, like educating the public to the flu mist option and urging people to observe safe health practices before and when they do get sick. Instead, they are creating panic and fear, which has caused dangerous situations in NY, Georgia and Florida. Of course, the media is doing a great job at helping to create panic and fear instead of disemminating good information. So I raise my coffee mug in salute to the harbingers of doom.
To get a different perspective on drug companies visit Laughing Wolf and read his post "On Merck, Drugs, and Medicine.
Posted by Michele at October 16, 2004 10:12 AMWell, in all fairness, I think there is a good argument to be made that the shortage is the fault of the federal government. It was the government that effectively drove other vaccine producers out of the business, after all.
Yes, there are plenty of places where this mess could have been averted. But the lesson to be learned here is that excessive government interference in free markets leads directly to situations where crises need to be averted. Better to avoid the whole mess entirely by keeping the iron fist of government regulation as far from industry as is practical.
Posted by: Jeff Harrell at October 16, 2004 03:10 PM