SwiftVets.com

[Fort Campbell]

Here's why:

Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered this year.

Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, will not be distributing
any influenza vaccine this flu season.

Chiron was to make 46-48 million doses vaccine for the United States.

Chiron is a British company.

Recently British health officials stopped Chiron from distributing and
making the vaccine when inspectors found unsanitary conditions
in the labs. Some lots of the vaccine were recalled and destroyed.

Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US?

The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost 90% of the nations flu vaccine at one time.

They did this despite a very low profit margin for the product.

Basically, they were doing us a favor. In the late 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the vaccine got the flu.

The strain he caught was one of the strains in that years vaccine made by a US company.

What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awarded almost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most US pharmaceutical companies stopped making the vaccine.

The liability out weighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such frivolous law suits UK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine in the US.



By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law
suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.



(YES, the same John Edwards!)

[srmorton]

Thanks, Fort Campbell. I'm from North Carolina and did not know
that little fact about our wonderful Senator. I knew that the threat
of lawsuits was one factor that caused so many of the smaller drug
companies to get out of the vaccine-making business, but I did not
know the role that John Edwards had played in it.
_________________
Susan R. Morton

[Guest]

[DaveL]

Wow, this should be a big story considering all the crap the dems have been giving Bush about the vaccine shortage...I also knew that liability issues were the main reason for loss of US production, but are we sure that Edwards was the "slip and fall" lawyer involved in that frivolous lawsuit and outlandish award? Links to this story anyone?

[carpro]

Just thought I'd let you guys know Snopes says this story is false.

I received an email from a friend and checked it out. It sounded too good to be true.

I suggest you research this item some more before you spread it .
_________________
"If he believes his 1971 indictment of his country and his fellow veterans was true, then he couldn't possibly be proud of his Vietnam service."

[noc]

True or not the Clinton administration put market caps on the product so that the manufacturers can't raise the price high enough to cover the liability insurance.

There is no way any american company is going to make a product that becomes an automatic loss.

Liability insurance in the medical industry is completly out of hand and tort reform is the only answer.

Even if the award did not take place, it does not change the premise of why companies are staying away from the manufacturing.

[jimlarsen]

Although the Edwards story is false, here's an example of the kind "spin" the Dems have put on Bush's charge that litigation costs have caused the flu vaccine shortage.

The Dems start with, "During the debate, George Bush tried to deflect criticism that he is responsible for the flu shot shortage by blaming lack of vaccine availability on liability. Unfortunately, his own Department of Health Human Services has decided to make up for the fact that it lied about the Medicare bill by telling the truth about the vaccine shortage: It has nothing to do with liability issues. It’s all on the website in plain English." see http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/archives/003532.html#more

Then they quote a section of a report from the National Vaccine Advisory Committee that's supposed to prove that the vaccine shortage has nothing to do with liability issues. However, this report was written in Jan. of 2003 and therefore it doesn't address the current shortage. And, the section quoted says in part "Today, litigation again threatens stability of the vaccine program in the form of class action law suits, exemplified by those that have been filed involving vaccines that contain thimerosal."

The Dems seem to have concentrated on a sentece further down which says "While current vaccine shortages do not appear to be liability related, the VICP should be maintained and strengthened as supported by scientific evidence, ..." Because of when the report was written, this sentence can only apply to the situation before 2003, and coupled with the caution that "litigation again threatens stability of the vaccine program" acts as strong support that the subject of this warning (that litigation could cause problems) is in fact happening today with the flu vaccine.

The full report is cited on the Dems page and can be seen at
http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/bulletins/nvac-vsr.htm#liability

Most people, unfortunately, will read the headline and believe it without carefully reading any of the report. That this report would be used without saying that was written more than a year ago is disgusting and shows the complete lack of attention that Kerry's campaign is paying to the relavency of the material they use to back up their claims.
_________________
-I'm Jim, and I approve what I write, unless it's wrong.
Speak softly and carry a BIG STICK. -T. Roosevelt
Need some WOOD? -G. Bush

[buffman]

Let's send this bit of info to Rush and the Sean man!
_________________
Never Ever Give Up
America First

[reconflyer]

This will be the first time in a lot of years that I wont be getting stuck with a needle in Oct/Nov.

I'm actually kind of glad, because I hate getting a freaking flu shot.

(my wife is a healthcare worker, a military nurse, and she is skeptical that she will get the flu shot this year, she said she's sixth on the list of jobs to get one, if the nurse is not getting one, you know they are rationing!)

I hate getting stabbed with needles of any kind.

P.S. I've been stabbed with needles so many times, I can't even pretend to keep count.

Back in the day, gamma globulin shots for Hep A only lasted three months. I have had so many GG shots in my arse cheek that I don't think I can take one more... fortunately, they have come out with a Hep A vaccine that is good for 15 years... suhhhweeett...

No thanks to the lawyers, for goodness' sake.
_________________
Active duty AF 1986-Present
Enlisted Aircrew 1990-Present

[Fort Campbell]

Sory about posting false info. A friend sent thqt to me and he is usually very accurate.

[gia_lin_fo]

I have long opined that much of the cost of US drugs is liability insurance. Canadian drugs are cheaper because they don't have as stiff a requirement. It will be curious to see what happens when a Canadian imported drug is sued. Vioxx may provide this avenue. Is a Canadian drug legal or illegal, have standing in a US court? Does the Canadian government subsidize drugs in some way and can they then be held liable?

A great deal has been put into flu vaccinations going back to the swine flu. We have invested much to get to level where many people have their comfort relieved and fewer people die. I personally do better the years I get a flu shot. I am diabetic, like many Vietnam vets, the only risk factor I have, and did qualify as high risk to get the shot. I waited two and half hours in line to get it.
_________________
VietNam 1970-1971

[Hydrology_joe]

I too received that e-mail. Suspecting that it was too-good-to-be-true, I did not forward it along. However, I would not trust Snopes.com as the end-all in determining the authenticity of any e-mail forwards, but use multiple sources of evidence. If you spend some time reviewing the various topics and verifications provided by Snopes.com, you will notice that they tend to be left-leaning. Somehow I don't think and anti-democrat piece would get quite as fair of a shake in determining authenticity.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the shortage of flu shots is directly attributed to liability lawsuits from trial lawyers (like Mr. Edwards). I strongly believe that the problems in America's health care system are caused by frivolous lawsuits from ambulance chasers. I recently had a suspect mole removed and had to sign about a ream of legal forms before "surgery" so the doctor would be protected from lawsuits as asinine as scarring. (last time I checked, whenever the skin is cut, it WILL scar!) It is sad that our doctors have to spend more time dealing with "malpractice" insurance to protect themselves from ambulance chasers, than caring for their patients. I think America's health care reform should begin by capping frivolous lawsuits and forcing the plantiffs pay all associated court costs when the doctors were not found to be at fault. Of course to accurately determine if the doctor was at fault in his/her work, we'd need to get rid of those liberal judges who believe that it is the corporations fault that some moron spilled coffee in their lap!

[carpro]

[srmorton]

Even if John Edwards himself was not involved in vaccine litigation,
he IS one of the most prominent lawyers who helped to create the
"sue-happy" atmosphere that we have in the US today. There is no
doubt that malpratice litigation has been one of the major contributing
factors to the increasing cost of health care in the US.

The other major cause is obvious to me because I experienced it
directly. I was working as a medical technlogist in the early 1980's
when the government came out with DRGs - diagnostic related groups.
This was a law that limited the reinbursement by Medicare to the
hospital according to the patient's diagnosis. For example, a patient
having gall bladder surgery was limited to a certain number of days
in the hospital and to certain tests that the government experts
(not the patient's doctor) considered appropriate. If the patient had
any complications that required him to stay in the hospital longer,
Medicare would not approve the charges and the hospital had to
"eat" these costs. The hospital had to make up for these losses
or go out of business. They increased the cost of their services to
those that would pay - the private insurance companies, which caused
them to increase their premiums and the whole system spiraled out of
control.
_________________
Susan R. Morton