Bioweapons could catch US cities off guard

[Louisiana1976]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - If America's less-than-rapid response to the H1N1 pandemic is an indicator of how the U.S. public health system would react in the event of a bioweapon attack, we are in deep, deep yogurt, folks.

It's taken more than six months to ramp up production of a vaccine for a contagious disease that health officials worldwide knew was coming.

Fort Worth parents remember all too well the late April decision by school district officials to close all 144 local campuses for more than a week because of concerns about the spread of swine flu.

Wouldn't it have made sense to vaccinate children against H1N1 before school started this fall?

"Sure it would have," said retired Air Force Col. Randall Larsen, executive director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and Terrorism and author of "Our Own Worst Enemy." "But there's a problem. There's (just) one facility in the United States making H1N1 vaccine, and it's using the same technology we used 50 years ago."

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/story/79393.html

[Arctic Dave]

1. OH NOES!!!11

Big difference between an aggressive flu and a bioweapon. Quick give more money to the MIC so they can save us.

[napi21]

2. Unfair criticism! Flu vaccines take time to develope & grow!

Hell, you have quite a # of people refusing to get their children vaccinated because they don't believe the current vaccine was tested long enough!

As far as vaccinating the children before school started...I'm not sure it was even ready in August, & I know there are many many parents who simply wouldn't have done so. What options would the FW officials have had then? Some students have been vaccinated & some weren't! What do they do then? BTW, I don't mandatory vaccinations would work today. I'm old enough to remembre when it was mandatory that every school age child be given the polio vaccine, and I honestly don't remember hearing of anybody saying no. I also recall getting a TB test, along with all my schoolmates in all the classes. There's so much mistrust now, I don't that could be done.

[madrchsod]

3. that`s the beauty of off shoring our industrial base!

want to move your company to a country that offers even bigger tax breaks than we give you? we`ll make sure there won`t be anyone in the government stopping you. if you send us enough $ we`ll even help you move!

[Bluenorthwest]

4. List for me other nation's responses to these 'bioweapon' attacks

you speak of? What are the top five on record?