So, Americans will die, but that's OK cause med's are unprofitable?

[MsMagnificent]

I've been gone a few days, trying to catch up with the news... did Cheney really say that? That making the flu vaccine was unprofitable?
and of course if it doesn't put yet more money in their pockets then it's not worthwhile?

Please tell me he didn't say unprofitable in the lack of uncontaminated flu shots, implying that not making them is OK because they're unprofitable...

Call me old-fashioned, but isn't the government supposed to care for its citizens, not profits?

Sorry, I look around at my family & I can't get away from that word

Unprofitable.

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. Don't worry. If you have the money, you can get a flu shot

So it's not so bad after all.

[tomfodw]

4. Yeah? Where? Cos I can't find one anywhere

And I need one.

[DuctapeFatwa]

5. Call doctors in your area. Or drive or fly to Canada

If you live in a small town, call doctor's offices in affluent sections of a big city near you.

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Doctors won't usually give shots to people who aren't regular patients,

so I think that's a losing scheme.

I haven't found a source for a flu shot yet, even though I would be willing to pay more than cost of the vaccine and I am high risk due to chronic medical conditions.

I've been told that the doctors who got the vaccine were those who got their orders in earliest, so having vaccine would be due to who's got the most organized office manager.

[DuctapeFatwa]

12. I'm sure if you are willing to pay enough, make discreet inquiries

someone will be able to hook you up with a private practitioner who will sell you a flu shot. If not, as I said, you could travel to Canada. Or Europe.

[jimshoes]

2. Not with this crew in control

"Call me old-fashioned, but isn't the government supposed to care for its citizens, not profits?"

You and I are nothing more than fodder units to these thieves and scoundrels. They could care less if you and I and all the rest of the "poor" croak tomorrow.

[Mz Pip]

3. Yeah, that's pretty much what he said

Flu vaccines are not profitable and, oh yeah, IT'S THE TRIAL LAWYERS FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's all John Edwards fault that there aren't enough flu shots to go around. Him or Clinton. Whatever.

MzPip
:dem:

[Nite Owl]

6. What I find so amazing is

that no one really seems to making a connection between our system and the rest of the world. We supposedly have 'the best medical care in the world' yet these other countries aren't having any problem just us.

[sandnsea]

7. Free Market Health Care

Yep, I posted an editorial that said this same thing yesterday. This is all good, doncha know. Because demand is going to drive up prices so more companies will want to get in on making flu vaccine. Now how people are supposed to afford the higher prices isn't discussed, or the cost to society when its population can't work or is filling up the hospitals.

Penny wise and pound foolish; that's the Republican Party.

[leftofthedial]

8. welcome to Capitalismonia

quit whining and go get some money.

[Divernan]

9. Big Drugs make $$$ on treatment of illnesses, not prevention of same.

$5/10 for a flu shot, versus all the antibiotics/ cold meds one takes after coming down with the flu. Plus the fewer people who are vaccinated, the more widely the disease will spread. So it's $10 for my one shot, versus all the meds I'll buy when I come down with the flu, and the other people who will catch it from me!
And if the Big Drug Companies are lucky, lots of people will have secondary complications requiring lots more drugs.

Now if flu vaccines made money the way Viagra does, we'd be seeing all these ads on TV: "Hey, flu season is coming. Call your doctor and tell him/her you want a shot of our super new drug, Flubigone!!!!

[Ksec]

11. I hear the vaccines only pull an 8% profit margin .

While the Viagras of the world get an easy 15%.

It just proves whos running things in this country today. When the masses health takes a backseat to corporate profits you know the America we once knew is no more.

And the really bad part is that I believe its too late to change things. The corporations own Gov and we are just expendable labor costs. Boy that was a gloomy post..

[allalone]

13. wow

the gyrations you have to go through to get a flu shot now is like the bad old days if you needed an abortion. Let's see, go to another country, hook up with someone with connections, pay high amounts of money. sounds just like it to me.

[BayStateBoy]

14. "FluGate" is a missed opportunity for Kerry-Edwards

Vaccines are not unprofitable. They are just comparatively less profitable. When you compare vaccines to the billions in profits that drug companies get from manufacturing arthritis and erectile dysfunction drugs, the profit margins are vastly less.

The influenza vaccine is particularly onerous and distasteful to most drug companies because the antigens mutate so frequently and widely. That vastly complicates vaccine preparation and makes flu vaccines especially scientifically labor intensive.

The Chiron contamination so I am told occurred in the final bottling stages, so it was probably bacterial. One can only wonder what would have happened had the Brits not closed down the Liverpool facility and the contaminated batches got released onto the US markets. I wouldn't hold my breath in hopes that the FDA would have been a safety net.

As for the ananlysis of the problems, of course Bush-Cheney are full of shit.

"FluGate" is one of the untapped issues in this campaign that if properly exploited would resonate widely especially among women.

[newyawker99]

15. Hi BayStateBoy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[BayStateBoy]

21. Thank You So Very Much!

[PA Democrat]

16. Yeah, if you have a rare disease you're screwed according to Cheney

Just DEAL with it people. You must DIE before profits come before people. Yes, that's the "pro-life" administration in action!
:puke:

[ewagner]

17. It's the same with "Orphan Drugs"

Or, sometimes referred to as Orphan Diseases. For years, it has been known that there are drugs available to treat diseases that are extremely rare and inflict relatively few people which are not brought to the market because they are not "profitable".

Now, something has occurred to highlight the "profitability" of a mainstream vaccine and there is great concern. Commercialization of health care is a MAJOR problem in our system.

[snippy]

18. Another example of how "pro-life" the republican party is.

It is very republican to choose death or the possibility of death for others in order to preserve or increase profits.

[MsMagnificent]

19. Better get Gramma & G'Pop to vote before they catch the flu

& mom and dad too before they die from the flu, since flu shots are so unprofitable

Good thing we get to vote before the major flu season hits!

I'm truly sick to my stomach... & it ain't the flu!

[toddaa]

20. Let's stop worrying about the flu...

Tuberculosis is coming back in a big way and it's antibiotic resistant. Hooray!!!