Over six months ago, I lamented that the Swine flu was causing more panic than pandemic. And I blamed the Obama administration for inciting much of this panic by issuing specious warnings about its deadly potential, including advisories against traveling to Mexico.
I explained my lamentation by noting that:
… far too few government officials and reporters are bothering to assure the public that this outbreak is no more deadly than the garden-variety flu that kills over 36,000 Americans every year. And, even though it’s a new strain, the fact that over 99% of the people infected worldwide have recovered indicates that this swine flu is no more likely to grow into a pandemic than SARS or the Avian flu.
[Swine flu causing more panic than pandemic, TIJ, April 28, 2009]
In fact the death rate from Swine flu so far is no greater than that of the seasonal flu. Therefore, it seems foolhardy that governments, particularly throughout the developing world, are depleting emergency funds to combat this phantom pandemic. Especially when simply admonishing people to wash their hands would suffice.
New estimates suggest that the death rate compares to a moderate year of seasonal influenza… I think we can say we are in a category 1 pandemic [as opposed to the highest category 6, which the WHO declared earlier this year].
(Dr Marc Lipsitch of Harvard University at a meeting of flu experts being held by the US Institute of Medicine in September)
In any case, one could be forgiven for thinking that the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) would have ensured that there was a sufficient supply of the Swine flu vaccine available at this point to administer to all individuals duly panicked by the government’s dire warnings.
Yet the media are replete these days with stories about vaccine shortages. In fact, government officials concede that they have less than a quarter of the 160 million doses they promised in July would be available by now.
Not surprisingly, this has led to lines outside flu clinics and hospitals that resemble bread lines during the Depression.
More to the point, there’s no denying that if George W. Bush were still president, he’d be suffering a torrent of criticisms for this CDC failure. And the most charitable criticism would have been that he clearly did not learn a damn thing from FEMA’s spectacular failures during Hurricane Katrina.
So why not Obama…?
Especially given that frustration turned to moral outrage yesterday when it was reported that a Brownie-like official in his administration made the boneheaded decision that Wall Street bankers should join healthcare workers, pregnant women and young children on the priority list of those receiving rationed doses of this highly coveted vaccine.
What an incompetent, hysterical mess!
Related commentaries:
Swine flu causing more panic than pandemic
We have more to fear from common cold than swine flu
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.