It isn't because of any some grand conspiracy, or even bad planning, it's because the gov't of Great Britain found a couple of batches of the vaccine that were contaminated and deemed *all* of the vaccine manufactured by the company (contracted by Chiron) as being contaminated.
People!!! Please wake up!!! Whenever you expect the gov't to solve a problem or provide a service, you must give the gov't power over YOU.
jorj,
i consider it a campaign issue...
but certainly not the way the kerry campaign is spinning it...
we need to ask ourselves why we only have 2 domestic pharmaceutical companies producing the flu vaccines...
i think we can thank litigators like john edwards for the medical liability lawsuits upon which he made his fortune....
oh and course hillary clinton, who advocated the government sponsored vaccine purchasing program...
fortunately that was the end of hillarycare, but as you know once a government program is instituted it is near impossible to dismantle it...
and now with the medicare drug benefit enacted by congress and signed by bush, we could be looking at even more classes of drugs and their manufacturers priced out of profitability (assuming the feds take the same government sponsorship purchasing plan, hopefully that will not happen, but many of us see the handwriting on the wall)
look at the date on this article....notice that even 1 year ago, there were 5 vaccine producers, now there are only 2
ncpa.org
Hillary's Vaccine Shortage
Daily Policy Digest
Health Issues / Moving Toward Universal Coverage
Monday, August 18, 2003
Everyone knows America's vaccine industry is in serious trouble, with an ever dwindling number of producers and recent severe vaccine shortages. What everyone also should know is that the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine has now pinned much of the blame on the government vaccine-buying program promoted by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The panel of doctors and economists issuing a report on vaccines last week identified as a fundamental cause of the problem the fact that the government purchases 55 percent of the childhood vaccine market at forced discount prices. The result has been "declining financial incentives to develop and produce vaccines."
The root of this government role goes back to August 1993, when Congress passed Clinton's Vaccines for Children program. The plan, promoted by the Children's Defense Fund, was to use federal power to ensure universal immunization. So the government agreed to purchase a third of the national vaccine supply (the President and Mrs. Clinton had pushed for 100 percent) at a forced discount of half price, then distribute it to doctors to deliver to the poor and the un- and under-insured. As a result:
Where 30 years ago, 25 companies produced vaccines for the U.S. market., today only five remain, and there is only one producer for a number of critical shots.
Recent years have brought shortages of numerous vaccines, including those for whooping cough, diphtheria and chicken pox.
The Institute panel in effect said that one of Senator Clinton's pet projects is a bust. As Congress considers Medicare legislation that could do similar harm to prescription drug makers, the vaccine tale is a timely alarm, says the Journal.
Source: Editorial, "Hillary's Vaccine Shortage," Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2003; based on Committee on the Evaluation of Vaccine Purchase Financing in the United States, "Financing Vaccines in the 21st Century: Assuring Access and Availability," Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, August 4, 2003.
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