Bird Flu Open Thread

by Dem FromCT

Since we hijacked MB's last thread, I thought we'd keep flu questions and comment here. This is Pandemic Flu Awareness Week, which Bush and cable seem to have done their share promoting. Military quarantine? Revere says:

"He might add it is also fruitless. If you live in community or region X and the rumor is loose you will be quarantined, a good proportion of your neighbors will head for the hills before you can say "Karl Rove." The hammer will fall (as it did in Katrina) on those who didn't get the word or couldn't leave. Historically "quarantines" of this type have translated some of the worst nativist instincts of our country into disproportionate burdens on minorities and immigrants. Expect the same here."

Also in ths morning's news is some disturbing news about more cronies where they don't belong (hat tip to Transparent Grid). Read this excellent summary from Effect Measure on the politics of bird flu:

Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman pointed to Simonson as one of several examples of Bush cronyism, noting his sorry performance on influenza as an example of his lack of qualifications:

At a House Government Reform hearing on July 14, 2005, Mr. Simonson claimed he had sufficient funds to purchase influenza vaccine and antiviral medication for the nation.8 The next day, his office submitted a funding request to Congress seeking an additional $150 million for flu vaccine and antiviral medication. (Waxman Fact Sheet [.pdf])

But Republicans aren't comfortable with his performance, either.

Noting that the flu can be lethal to some populations such as the elderly, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said the country was unprepared to deal with a possible flu pandemic.

Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary in the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness at the Health and Human Services Department, stopped short of agreeing with Craig's assessment, but said "it would pose an enormous challenge."

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Gregg also questioned if the process used by Simonson's office to award vaccine development contracts ensured open competition and delivery to prevent a vaccine shortfall.

"Are we creating the same situation with anthrax?" Gregg asked, referring to the flu vaccine shortfall last winter. (GovExec.com, Daily Briefing)

So business as usual, pandemic threat or no pandemic threat. If this President tries to keep us any safer, we'll all be dead.

Your turn. Check out Flu Wiki and help us spread the word: we need leadership, and we also need to do some bottom-up pandemic planning to assist those who really are trying to help save lives.

Comments

[DemFromCT]

This (avian flu) is now mainstream stuff. from the WSJ:

Amid growing concerns about bird flu spreading to humans, the Bush administration says it plans to bolster vaccine production in the U.S., purchase huge quantities of antiviral drugs and lay out a detailed system to coordinate federal, state and local response efforts to a pandemic.

In an interview, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said an administration plan to be put forth in coming weeks is designed to ensure a far more robust domestic vaccine industry, with expanded U.S. manufacturing capacity. White House and congressional officials have said the request to Congress will be in the range of $6 billion to $10 billion.

[emptywheel]

It's kind of worrisome that mr. emptywheel went from not believing in bird flu and not believing there would be Plame indictments to being a believer all of a sudden.

I kind of liked having the live-in skeptic to keep me from worrying TOO much.

[mesamom]

I looked up the 1915 Flu Epidemic on the Net - It was also called "Swine" Flu. Story is some farm boys in Kansas (of all places) became infected, yes, from their pigs and got recruited for WWI and spread it around the world. (When pigs fly, comes to mind.) More credible might be the fact that the vaccine given to every one (made some drug companies tons of money) and made everyone else very sick - Some died!! Now the story out is that the coming bird flu pandemic is the "same" as the 1918 strain! Birds vs pigs - stay tuned and watch your back!