Birdflu Mailing List: Petition for flu vaccine production modernization

[William Weir (wweir1]

I invite you to consider signing and circulating this petition.


The editorial is available for free copying at
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/67763187.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:UthPacyPE7iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr


-- Bill Weir 763-568-7022  wweir1 [at] gmail.com

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*PETITION*

In the light of the current H1N1 flu vaccine delays and its toll on those
eager and waiting in line to have the protective vaccine,

In the light of the potential for terrorism with an influenza virus where a
vaccine must be rapidly produced,

In the light of the antiquated egg-based system of producing flu vaccines,

In the light of the Star-Tribune editorial 11/1/09 urging action on this
national disgrace,

In the light of CBS Sixty Minutes report on 11/1/09 showing the
disgracefully slow and unreliable system,

*We call upon our Members of Congress, our President and his
Administration*to move quickly to contract with influenza vaccine
manufacturer(s) and/or
the National Institutes of Health to invent and adopt more reliable *technology
for safely and rapidly producing flu vaccine.*


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StarTribune Editorial, Minneapolis, November 1, 2009 Addressing a national
disgrace: Federal investment needed to modernize flu vaccine production. It
takes time to turn around the misguided spending of the Bush administration.
Bush invested in war, not the public health. It takes time to get things
back on track. This fact should provide a lesson for those who are fighting
the public option. Ultimately, health care is about the public health since
sick, untreated people spread diseases. How many on here want to spend a lot
of time with others who cannot afford H1N1 vaccinations?

Six months into the H1N1 influenza pandemic, the vaccine to protect against
it is still flowing more like the drip-drip-drip of an intravenous line than
the rushing river it needs to be.

In Minnesota, that means that as the flu season kicks into high gear,
vaccine has reached only a small fraction of the estimated 2.4 million state
residents at high risk for H1N1's potentially life-threatening
complications. There's not even enough vaccine to protect many doctors and
nurses caring for flu patients on the front lines. At Park Nicollet Health
Services in St. Louis Park, each day begins with an 8:30 a.m. conference
call to figure out influenza logistics: how many caregivers are ill and how
to parcel out the healthy ones around the system to handle the daily deluge
of patients.

That the nation is fighting this dangerous pathogen with inadequate supplies
of the most potent weapon against it should come as no surprise. Influenza
vaccine shortages have become the rule rather than the exception over the
past decade. And while incremental steps have been taken on a federal level
to address this, the United States continues to rely on 1940s-era vaccine
production technology and a shrinking number of manufacturers to defend
against a disease that some refer to as "nature's bioterrorism.''

It's a frightening and unacceptable situation -- one that's been neglected
for decades. Casting about for scapegoats is unproductive. Multiple
presidents and Congresses have had time to act and chose not to.

Instead, it's time to seize upon the urgency created by the unfolding
pandemic and the long, panicked lines at flu shot clinics to build a faster,
more reliable influenza vaccine production system. Minnesota's congressional
delegation, which counts among its constituents some of the world's top
influenza experts, should be at the forefront of this push

Policymakers won't need to start from scratch in searching for solutions.
The Mayo Clinic's Dr. Gregory Poland and the University of Minnesota's
Michael Osterholm are among the experts who have laid out smart, practical
recommendations that federal lawmakers should embrace to entice drug
manufacturers to stay in the vaccine business and invest in new technology.

The United States relies solely on the private sector for influenza vaccine
supplies. A key reason why the flu vaccine is still made using eggs -- a
slow and unpredictable process -- is that it's not a big moneymaking
product. It's sold yearly and inexpensively, unlike brand-name drugs taken
daily. It doesn't make financial sense for drug companies to invest the
millions or even billions needed for new ways to produce the vaccine.

Remedies include federal tax breaks or subsidies for research and new
manufacturing plants, as well as policies that protect manufacturers from
the financial risks of overproduction. Too often, millions of doses of flu
vaccine are thrown away each year after initial shortages lead to ramped-up
production.

Two former U.S. senators, Democrat Bob Graham of Florida and Republican Jim
Talent of Missouri, recently lent their support to solutions such as these.
The two chair the influential Congressional Commission on the Prevention of
Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, and believe the
nation's outdated vaccine system leaves the nation vulnerable against
bioterrorism attacks. Fixing it will "require federal involvement. ...
Congress and the administration need to recognize the severity of this
threat and make the expenditures necessary to give us that protection,"
Graham said in an interview Thursday.

As frightening as the H1N1 pandemic is, it's also an opportunity to finally
address something that is a national disgrace: the nation's antiquated
vaccine production system. The current pandemic shouldn't be fought with
World War II-era technology. An even bigger disgrace: leaving future
generations to do the same.                                ###




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