Bingo!
The additional background information that most in the news miss is that
vaccinations are probably the LEAST profitable area of pharmaceutical
production. In the past there have been enough outrageous lawsuits that
there has been a real problem getting any drug company to even produce them.
Notice that you can get a flu shot for $10 at most pharmacies and doctors
offices. The actual amount of that $10 that goes to the drug company is a
few cents.
There have been months at a time where it has been almost impossible to get
enough vaccinations for routine child immunizations.
The real problem is not with the current bird flu. There has been a long
time to develop an immunization and there is enough worldwide concern that
there will be a reasonable response if it does ever become able to jump from
human to human.
The real threat is if a highly virulent strain comes along that develops the
ability to cause significant morbidity and mortality AND the ability to jump
from human to human at the same time. Then we will be caught off guard.
What is really needed is research into the ability to rapidly produce a
large supply of vaccine for a newly discovered virus strain.
That being said, please get your flu shots for this year. There was a young
healthy admissions clerk in the emergency room where I worked in Portland
that was dead within 5 days of getting symptoms one year. That made a
believer out of me.
Also, do NOT approach birds that look ill or are dead. Call the appropriate
animal control people.

Stay well,
Ron McCluskey

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Patterson" <celata at pacifier.com>
To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 7:47 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Bird Flu


> Is bird flu being hyped? Of course it is. The media loves
> these kinds of stories. Politicians love to use them as
> distractors.
>
> But just because the issue is being over-hyped by the media
> doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned.