Sunday, October 25, 2009

Well, it is officially a swine flu emergency

Well, ths swine flu is now a declared pandemic, and even President Obama has gotten in on the act by declareing it a national emergency. I say this is an act because the H1N1 is still considered likely to do less damage than its seasonal counterparts. This is like calling a national emergency for a routine severe thunderstorm here in Texas. And if he really wanted to make a difference, where was he on this subject last May, when he could have made a difference?

In the mean time, the shortage of Children's Tamiflu, and this is not a production problem, since there is more than enough of the drug available. It is a problem with finding people willing to mix it into the right dose for children. Something any pharmacist can do. Of course this may change, as projections are for the epidemic to outstrip availability of the drug withing a couple of months.

Of course, all of this is made a little harder by those spreading rumors about the safety of the vaccine. I say a little harder, cause with not enough vaccine to go around, my thought is that you expend the vaccine on those willing to take it and ignore the nay sayers. Let the Darwin Effect take care of them. Let me be clear on my stand. The vaccine is relatively safe. No drug or vaccine is completely safe, but in this case, the risk associated with not getting the vaccine is much greater.

2 comments:

Pilgrim said...

In all of this, I confess a little (a lotta) cynicism. Doesn't it feel, like the crazy gas prices of '08, like we're part of some big social behavior experiment? Like some sociologist or psychologist is in a glass room somewhere high above New York City taking notes on human behavior as each press conference and press release rolls out?

Also, I saw unmarked black assault helicopters pass over my house last month. I really did. Two of them.

Just helping your credibility as a watchdog, friend. :-)

TRex said...

Well, I always say, it isn't one big social experiment, it is dozens of little ones. (How high can I raise this price before they quit cominig to get gas, or at least learn to car pool?)

The odds that the Swine Flu will do more than keep you home from work for a week are something like 2%. The odds the shot will have a horrible side effect is about .5%

Either way, the risk isn't worth losing sleep over, especially for those of us who know who is REALLY in control.