ONE OF THE GREAT NON-STORIES OF 2004:

Flu Shot Supply Grows, but Demand Withers (REBECCA COOK, 12/17/04, AP)

In October and November Americans stood in line for hours to get one of the precious few flu shots. But now that more vaccine is available - with a few million more doses expected from British and German suppliers - demand is dwindling.

Rod Watson had to cancel 1,000 flu-shot clinics in four states when the national vaccine shortage cut off his supply two months ago. Now Watson has flu shots aplenty - and he can't give them away.

Ronald Reagan used to tell a Soviet joke about a guy who gets on a bread line that's several blocks long, but they run out before they get to him. So he goes and gets on a toilet paper line and they run out too. And so on and so forth. Finally he just stands in front of a brick wall and in no time there's a queue three blocks long behind him. After they've been standing there awhile someone asks him: "What are we waiting for anyway?" He answers: "Nothing. I just wanted to be first for once."

If the media and Democrats had been as hysterical about a proctoscope shortage as they were about the flu vaccine there'd have been lines of folks grabbing their ankles.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 17, 2004 1:30 PM