Swine Flu, Bird Flu Different Animals
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
They've noted that there are lots of sick people and that there is a shortage of swine flu vaccinations.
CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden was expressing his frustration to the Associated Press this week.
"This is an area where we wish we had a stronger public health system, where we wish we could get vaccine out more quickly. We wish we had a stronger biomedical engineering environment where we could have gotten a vaccine more rapidly and gotten it into the field more rapidly," said Frieden.[[In-content Ad]]Hospitals nationwide are scrambling "as waves of flu patients arrive at their doors, doubling their emergency room volume," USA Today reports. "Doctors are expecting the number of patients needing hospitalization and intensive care to rise," maybe even forcing "some hospitals to cancel services such as elective surgery, they say."
And then there's the shortage of vaccines:
"Administration officials sought Monday to explain why so much less H1N1 flu vaccine is available than had been promised, blaming the manufacturers and the vagaries of science for nationwide shortages," The Washington Post reports. "Public anxiety has surged as the swine flu sweeps across the country and doctors and clinics are forced to turn away many people."
The administration said in July that 80 to 120 million doses would be produced by mid-October, but "only about 16.5 million doses have become available so far."
"Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in television interviews Monday that officials had been relying on the manufacturers to give us their numbers, and as soon as we got numbers we put them out to the public. It does appear now that those numbers were overly rosy."
When the news about vaccination shortages broke, we heard these TV news reports:
NBC: "President Obama declared the swine flu pandemic a national emergency over the weekend, but still the amount of vaccine to protect against it is running way behind what the government had promised."
CBS: "Now to the H1N1 flu. Federal health officials admitted today their projected timetable for producing the vaccine was way off. They originally said there would be about 40 million doses by the end of the month. But as of today, there's less than half that number."
ABC: "Our 'Closer Look' tonight involves the confusion surrounding the swine flu vaccine. The government originally predicted 40 million doses of vaccine would be available by the end of October, now says there will only about 28 million. And people who want the vaccine are finding tremendous difficulty getting any information about when and where it will be available."
That seems about right to me. Honest reporting by the national media on an issue of urgent national concern.
But I noticed the only mention of President Obama in any of that reporting was to note that he declared a national emergency.
And that's fair. It's not his fault the vaccine companies can't make the stuff fast enough. It's a pretty involved, difficult process.
But let's compare and contrast that reporting with what happened the last time there was a flu outbreak in the US. That would have been the bird flu in 2005 when George W. Bush was president.
Here are some excerpts and headlines and such:
n President Bush's bird flu plan fails to teach people how to really protect themselves from a global pandemic
n Report: Bush Administration Lacks Plan to Test, Monitor Bird Flu
n Bird flu: The Bush administration has been creating irrational fear about the dangers of avian influenza
n President Bush Bails Out on Bird-Flu Plan: "You're on Your Own" if It Strikes
n Bush's Newest "Katrina": Bird Flu
n Newsweek did a huge cover story under the headline, "On Their Own - Federal bird flu plan puts burden on local governments. Why the plan falls short."
n Bird flu plans: FEMA and Katrina
n Disaster on Wings? - Bird Flu and Bush. Hurricane Katrina may be just the tip of the iceberg. If a severe outbreak of Asian bird flu hits the U.S., George W. Bush's presidency could be severely damaged or even ruined.
n Bird Flu Alarm a 'Post-Katrina' Effect
'Trust us' is not something the administration can say after Katrina, said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. We want plans. We want specific goals and procedures we're going to take to prepare for this.
n Donald Rumsfeld to Profit Millions from Bush Spending on Avian Bird Flu Pandemic
n White House Tests Flu Pandemic Readiness
And then there was this from Associated Press. It was classic.
n Four-Hour White House Drill Tests Government's Readiness for a Flu Pandemic in the U.S.
By JENNIFER LOVEN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The White House on Saturday sought to "push resources to the breaking point" as officials tested the government's readiness for a flu pandemic in the United States.
The four-hour drill at the White House complex involved Cabinet secretaries and top federal officials. President Bush, though remaining at the White House for the weekend, did not participate. He went for a bike ride in suburban Maryland on a cold winter morning. Vice President Dick Cheney also stayed away.
In the second paragraph, AP calls out President Bush for fiddling while Rome burns.
You want some more. Well here's some more:
n "Fear of Flu Outbreak Rattles Washington"
n "Unqualified Crony in Charge of Pandemic Response"
n "Bush Plan Shows U.S. Is Not Ready for Deadly Flu," New York Times, October 8, 2005.
n "Bush plan for flu crisis shows U.S. not ready-NYT," Reuters (Yahoo! News), October 8, 2005.
n "Bush's Risky Flu Pandemic Plan."
n "Bush suddenly wakes up to threat of avian flu," Boston Globe, October 11, 2005.
All right, enough. You get the picture.
So, obviously, considering the coverage, the Bush administration must have devoted a lot fewer resources to the outbreak that the Obama administration, right?
Especially since the swine flu has been touted as far more dangerous and more widespread than bird flue.'
Not so much.
Obama Budget: Spending Increase to Fight Swine Flu
WASHINGTON (Washington Post) - The Obama 2010 budget includes an increase of $584 million to fight swine flu, over and above the $1.5 billion in supplemental resources Obama has already allocated.
Bush Offers Pandemic Plan
WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Bush announced Tuesday that he would ask Congress for $7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare the country for a possible flu pandemic.
Whatever.
You know, I think the only place you can find unvarnished news is late at night on the BBC World Report.
They've noted that there are lots of sick people and that there is a shortage of swine flu vaccinations.
CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden was expressing his frustration to the Associated Press this week.
"This is an area where we wish we had a stronger public health system, where we wish we could get vaccine out more quickly. We wish we had a stronger biomedical engineering environment where we could have gotten a vaccine more rapidly and gotten it into the field more rapidly," said Frieden.[[In-content Ad]]Hospitals nationwide are scrambling "as waves of flu patients arrive at their doors, doubling their emergency room volume," USA Today reports. "Doctors are expecting the number of patients needing hospitalization and intensive care to rise," maybe even forcing "some hospitals to cancel services such as elective surgery, they say."
And then there's the shortage of vaccines:
"Administration officials sought Monday to explain why so much less H1N1 flu vaccine is available than had been promised, blaming the manufacturers and the vagaries of science for nationwide shortages," The Washington Post reports. "Public anxiety has surged as the swine flu sweeps across the country and doctors and clinics are forced to turn away many people."
The administration said in July that 80 to 120 million doses would be produced by mid-October, but "only about 16.5 million doses have become available so far."
"Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in television interviews Monday that officials had been relying on the manufacturers to give us their numbers, and as soon as we got numbers we put them out to the public. It does appear now that those numbers were overly rosy."
When the news about vaccination shortages broke, we heard these TV news reports:
NBC: "President Obama declared the swine flu pandemic a national emergency over the weekend, but still the amount of vaccine to protect against it is running way behind what the government had promised."
CBS: "Now to the H1N1 flu. Federal health officials admitted today their projected timetable for producing the vaccine was way off. They originally said there would be about 40 million doses by the end of the month. But as of today, there's less than half that number."
ABC: "Our 'Closer Look' tonight involves the confusion surrounding the swine flu vaccine. The government originally predicted 40 million doses of vaccine would be available by the end of October, now says there will only about 28 million. And people who want the vaccine are finding tremendous difficulty getting any information about when and where it will be available."
That seems about right to me. Honest reporting by the national media on an issue of urgent national concern.
But I noticed the only mention of President Obama in any of that reporting was to note that he declared a national emergency.
And that's fair. It's not his fault the vaccine companies can't make the stuff fast enough. It's a pretty involved, difficult process.
But let's compare and contrast that reporting with what happened the last time there was a flu outbreak in the US. That would have been the bird flu in 2005 when George W. Bush was president.
Here are some excerpts and headlines and such:
n President Bush's bird flu plan fails to teach people how to really protect themselves from a global pandemic
n Report: Bush Administration Lacks Plan to Test, Monitor Bird Flu
n Bird flu: The Bush administration has been creating irrational fear about the dangers of avian influenza
n President Bush Bails Out on Bird-Flu Plan: "You're on Your Own" if It Strikes
n Bush's Newest "Katrina": Bird Flu
n Newsweek did a huge cover story under the headline, "On Their Own - Federal bird flu plan puts burden on local governments. Why the plan falls short."
n Bird flu plans: FEMA and Katrina
n Disaster on Wings? - Bird Flu and Bush. Hurricane Katrina may be just the tip of the iceberg. If a severe outbreak of Asian bird flu hits the U.S., George W. Bush's presidency could be severely damaged or even ruined.
n Bird Flu Alarm a 'Post-Katrina' Effect
'Trust us' is not something the administration can say after Katrina, said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. We want plans. We want specific goals and procedures we're going to take to prepare for this.
n Donald Rumsfeld to Profit Millions from Bush Spending on Avian Bird Flu Pandemic
n White House Tests Flu Pandemic Readiness
And then there was this from Associated Press. It was classic.
n Four-Hour White House Drill Tests Government's Readiness for a Flu Pandemic in the U.S.
By JENNIFER LOVEN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The White House on Saturday sought to "push resources to the breaking point" as officials tested the government's readiness for a flu pandemic in the United States.
The four-hour drill at the White House complex involved Cabinet secretaries and top federal officials. President Bush, though remaining at the White House for the weekend, did not participate. He went for a bike ride in suburban Maryland on a cold winter morning. Vice President Dick Cheney also stayed away.
In the second paragraph, AP calls out President Bush for fiddling while Rome burns.
You want some more. Well here's some more:
n "Fear of Flu Outbreak Rattles Washington"
n "Unqualified Crony in Charge of Pandemic Response"
n "Bush Plan Shows U.S. Is Not Ready for Deadly Flu," New York Times, October 8, 2005.
n "Bush plan for flu crisis shows U.S. not ready-NYT," Reuters (Yahoo! News), October 8, 2005.
n "Bush's Risky Flu Pandemic Plan."
n "Bush suddenly wakes up to threat of avian flu," Boston Globe, October 11, 2005.
All right, enough. You get the picture.
So, obviously, considering the coverage, the Bush administration must have devoted a lot fewer resources to the outbreak that the Obama administration, right?
Especially since the swine flu has been touted as far more dangerous and more widespread than bird flue.'
Not so much.
Obama Budget: Spending Increase to Fight Swine Flu
WASHINGTON (Washington Post) - The Obama 2010 budget includes an increase of $584 million to fight swine flu, over and above the $1.5 billion in supplemental resources Obama has already allocated.
Bush Offers Pandemic Plan
WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Bush announced Tuesday that he would ask Congress for $7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare the country for a possible flu pandemic.
Whatever.
You know, I think the only place you can find unvarnished news is late at night on the BBC World Report.
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