Comment

Comment by Jamie on May 13, 2009 at 9:48am

The Obama administration has asked Congress to allocate as much as $2 billion toward developing and producing an H1N1 vaccine and preparing for a wider pandemic

Bob Keefe
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sat, 09 May 2009 11:49 UTC

With worries about the H1N1 swine flu virus starting to subside, some in Congress - - led by two Georgia lawmakers - - are beginning to wonder whether it's even worth it to develop a vaccine.

Republican U.S. Reps. Phil Gingrey of Marietta and Paul Broun of Athens - - both physicians - - say it might be a waste of taxpayer money to develop a vaccine, though experts predict the virus could re-emerge this winter.

Instead, they suggest, the money might be better used on defense spending.

"What we see in this particular flu outbreak is that I don't think (vaccines) are needed," Broun, a general practitioner, said on the House floor earlier this week.

"I don't think we need to be appropriating $1.5 billion or $2 billion for the H1N1 flu," he said. "We need to give those funds to our military personnel to keep them from dying in Afghanistan or Iraq."

Gingrey, meanwhile, suggested vaccine money might be better spent buying more F-22 Raptor fighter jets that are made in Marietta. The Pentagon has said it doesn't want or need any more of the jets, which each cost $140 million-plus, but Gingrey and others in Congress are nonetheless trying to keep the planes in production.

"We might be spending $2 billion on a vaccine that gets poured down the drain and is never used, and we could have purchased 15 or 20 F-22 Raptors," said Gingrey, an obstetrician and gynecologist. "We have to prioritize our spending. We have to do these things in an appropriate manner."

The Obama administration has asked Congress to allocate as much as $2 billion toward developing and producing an H1N1 vaccine and preparing for a wider pandemic.

Though federal officials and disease experts say H1N1 is shaping up to be less deadly than first thought, they caution that it's wrong to be complacent about developing a vaccine.

Scientists say they expect the current swine flu to retreat from the hemisphere as summer approaches, but it could return this fall in a more virulent form.

As of Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was tracking more than 1,600 confirmed cases of H1N1 in 43 states and the District of Columbia. Georgia has four confirmed cases, according to the CDC.

In a conference call with reporters Friday, the acting CDC director, Dr. Richard Besser, said the agency and vaccine manufacturers are taking steps to be ready to produce a vaccine if and when it's needed.

It can take four months or more to produce a vaccine, and the agency wants to be prepared if H1N1 returns with the next flu season, beginning in October.

"What we're going to be doing is looking and saying, 'OK, if this were to come back in a more severe form, what do we need to be ready to do in our communities, and what do we need to do at the federal level?'" Besser said. "We're going to be ready so we're not taken by surprise."

While Gingrey and Broun question whether a vaccine is even necessary, others in Congress are asking whether a special appropriation is necessary to pay for a vaccine if and when it's needed.

Rep. Tom Price, a Roswell Republican who also is a doctor, contends that the Obama administration has already appropriated enough funds in the regular Department of Health and Human Services budget to pay for a vaccine.

Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican from Gainesville who is the ranking member on a House subcommittee on health affairs, agrees that there may be other money already available.

"We're being told that there's dollars out there that could be spent on this without appropriating new dollars," said Todd Smith, Deal's chief of staff in Washington.

---

Comment: The republican congressmens' suggestion makes it appear that they are only two options on the table on how the tax payers' money can be spend: on producing a vaccine that is not even needed - given the ample evidence of alternative means for protecting oneself from the frankenflu, or on buying more war toys for the imperial games of America.
In a country where the education, health, economic and social systems are currently crumbling, sure one can think of more creative and productive ways to spend the hard won money of US citizens. But that requires a government and a congress composed of creative conscientious people, unlike the ones currently in place.

Comment by truth on May 12, 2009 at 5:08pm

Swine Flu May Be Human Error, Scientist Says; WHO Probes Claim

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization is investigating an Australian researcher’s claim that the swine flu virus circling the globe may have been created as a result of human error.

Comment by TheLasersShadow on May 8, 2009 at 12:01am

Canada reports first swine flu death

Texas woman is first U.S. citizen to die of swine flu

So much for swine flu
Since the first alarming reports of an outbreak in Mexico, nearly all the news about H1N1 has been good -- although it hasn't been reported that way

More than 2,300 cases of swine flu worldwide, 44 deaths: WHO

Swine flu: Scientists edgy about what to do next, even as fears of ...
World on guard if strain turns deadly like 1918 virus

(-TLS-)
This thing is still moving around, the MSM has killed the story though since they created a massive panic nearly globally and made tens of thousands of people go to hospitals in fear. All they have to do is hit the button and have the spec ops guys release the real deal. Keep an eye out guys this Bio event is still trucking along at speed and can turn into anything still.

Comment by truth on May 4, 2009 at 10:16pm

Swine Flu Expose a book by Eleanora I. McBean, Ph.D., N.D.

Comment by truth on May 4, 2009 at 9:21pm

The head of the World Health Organisation hit back at critics who h...

Comment by truth on May 4, 2009 at 3:59pm

.
From a friend...about SwineFlu

• Posted by WomanWhoStands on May 4, 2009 at 12:42am

Comment by truth on May 4, 2009 at 3:19pm

Unreported or Underreported Real Pandemics, Not Fake Ones Like Avia...

China Forces Dozens of Mexican Travelers Into Quarantine

Mexico breathes easier in flu epidemic

HO takes a page from a Michael Crichton Novel

WHO head indicates full flu pandemic to be declared

Professor: Descendent Of H1N1 Virus “Accidentally” Released From Lab

Comment by truth on May 4, 2009 at 12:52pm

Swine Flu A Hoax, But Martial Law All Too Real

As officials all but guarantee deadlier form of H1N1 will return later this year, draconian response measures have been established with the aid of deceptive scaremongering and hype

Comment by truth on May 4, 2009 at 2:07am

The head of the World Health Organisation hit back at critics who h...

Comment by truth on May 3, 2009 at 12:55am

In what would be the first reported case of its kind, a farm worker...

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