October 10, 2004
SOMEBODY COULD MAYBE DO WITH A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP
Kerry faults Bush for shortage of flu vaccine (Stephen Dinan, Washington Times, October 10th, 2004)
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry yesterday blamed President Bush for failing to head off a flu vaccine shortage and said it raises the question of whether the president is prepared for worse situations.He raised the charge while speaking to six women at a health care round table as he campaigned in Ohio, claiming victory in Friday's second presidential debate.
"If you can't plan to have enough of that vaccine, what are they doing with respect to the other things that could potentially hurt America in terms of bioterrorism, chemical terrorism, other kinds of things?" he said.[...]
Later yesterday, at a town hall gathering in Davie, Fla., Mr. Kerry defended his tort-reform plan, saying it was exactly because he and running-mate Sen. John Edwards can make the case that they will get something passed.
"John Edwards and I are going to be Nixon going to China when it comes to tort reform," he said.
Also at last night's town hall meeting, Mr. Kerry spent 10 minutes telling the audience of his commitment to pursuing peace in the Middle East, and told them about the time he finagled the chance to fly an Israeli air force plane.
"I'm turning, and suddenly I'm hearing the voice in the intercom that says to me, senator, you'd better turn faster, you're going over Egypt," he said.
He added that he got a sense of what was at stake in the region when he later did a loop in the plane: "Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to understand the Middle East, you look at it the way I did — upside down."
I had a really bad slice of pizza the other day. I guess that was Bush's fault too.
Posted by: Bart at October 10, 2004 8:40 AM"[U]pside down"...
That's the problem with how Kerry sees MOST things.
Oh, dear Heaven. Algore has a mind control device, and he's figured out how to use it. Not good.
Posted by: Chris at October 10, 2004 8:54 AMFunny, the reason for the flu vaccine shortage is that the government forces the drug companies to sell the vaccine at extremely low prices. Kerry's the one who wants to adopt Canadian price controls for drugs.
Posted by: John Thacker at October 10, 2004 9:39 AMActually, I believe the problem was with acontaminated batch of vaccine that was discovered, which forced the company (one of two that supplies the vaccine) to toss out any vaccine possibly associated with it in order to be sure the problem was completely taken care of. The reports -- which origially came out in August -- said the discovery happened early enough so that officials believed replacement doses could be distributed before the flu season begins in earnest.
Of course, the other thing here is that the company involved is based in Great Britain, the land of national health insurance, so I'm not sure if Kerry means to say Bush and the FDA should be regulating Tony Blair's medical infrastructure. Or I suppose given his respect for Britain and their contributions in Iraq, Kerry can start calling Bush and Blair the coalition of the unvaccinated.
Posted by: John at October 10, 2004 10:02 AMIs that jet story true?? It sounds like another "exaggeration" aka as lying, like Christmas in Cambodia dropping off covert officers in noisy Swift Boat. Hmm.
Posted by: Kay at October 10, 2004 10:18 AMI still want to know if Kerry was at the signing of the cease-fire for Gulf War I, as he told Bill O'Reilly.
Posted by: jim hamlen at October 10, 2004 10:30 AMJohn-- Yes, that is part of the immediate reason.
But it's also true that many companies have left the vaccine production field since the government got involved. The government buys nearly all the vaccines that are sold now, and pays a low fixed rate, using its monopsony power. The result is that companies don't want to be in the market, so they only produce exactly enough that the government demands.
More immediately, whenever there is an impending shortage and there aren't price controls, the free market takes control. With these price controls, you get the inevitable effect of price controls-- shortages. Price controls make the market less flexible, less able to deal with problems.
Posted by: John Thacker at October 10, 2004 11:16 AMVaccine-making is a high-risk business with high levels of liability and little profit. In the 1970s, there were as many as 25 flu vaccine makers. Today, there are only two.
If anyone should be blamed its the Democrats. For example, in 2003 Congress tried to tighten up the threshhold of liability for the drug companies in an amendment to the Patriot Act. But there was a squawk from the anti-vaccine parents lobby, who believed that vaccines caused autism in children. The Senate Democrats, with a push from the trial-lawyers lobby, jumped on the bandwagon and blocked the amendment.
Although the division that makes the vaccine is in England, it's a U.S. corporation.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at October 10, 2004 4:01 PMKerry pilots jet aircraft? How'd he manage that, considering the usual route is to join the Air Force. Must be nice to be so rich that you can spend all your time on your hobbies, like windsurfing, skiing, flying and running for President, and not have to put in any time at your day job, isn't it Senator?
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at October 10, 2004 4:25 PM