anyone else watch hearings on flu vaccine shortage

lsyorke, RN · Nov 20, 2004

Congress has no control over the availability of flu vaccine. They were absolutely right to question the FDA/cdc regarding its failure to monitor the UK plant. The FDA has had problems with this company in the past for serratia contamination and didn't go back to inspect firsthand,they took the companies word that they had cleaned up their act. The FDA is in shambles and at least Congress is investigating every problem.

oramar · Nov 21, 2004

When people run for congress they need money. Large amounts of money are given to them by drug companies. If they win they are then obligated to listen to the drug companies about what they want. In the ninties the drug companies wanted the FDA off their backs. They got it and the flu vaccine shortage and the Vioxx disaster are the results. How does congress get the FDA off of the drug companies backs? Well my dear the rules and regulations that all Federal Agencies live by are written by our Congress.

lsyorke, RN · Nov 21, 2004

Don't take me wrong!! I agree that Congress is up to the eyeballs in Big Pharma money! But to blame Congress and not recognize that the FDA is put in place to investigate these drugs/vaccines isn't right. The FDA is completely entrenched in protecting Big Pharma. Look at who their attorney was until he resigned last week. Daniel Troy, one of Pfizers biggest lobbyist's. Talk about conflict of interest. He should have NEVER been appointed . Now take Temple,Crawford,Laughlin and Katz and you have a group that are VERY dangerous men. They are singlehandedly deciding what gets through the FDA approval process. The only reason the SSRI warning got upgraded was because of the very public outcry of familes. Vioxx got approved for children 2 weeks before Merck voluntarily pulled it from the market. The FDA is a joke. Let's give credit to Congressman Waxman,Grassley,and Stupak for having the B***s to speak up. The other's will only do what is right if it is "politically correct" to do so.

oramar · Nov 21, 2004

I also heard that the Bush administration has left several key postions open as a way of defanging the FDA.

lsyorke, RN · Nov 21, 2004

Wouldn't surprise me a bit!! Troy was a Bush pick!

NurseFirst · Nov 22, 2004

Wouldn't surprise me a bit!! Troy was a Bush pick!

"...And the band played on" -- it's about how the AIDS epidemic BECAME an epidemic, instead of handled early on...it's not always easy to read; the author was pretty upfront about gay sex practices and even included them in a discussion about how that was one of the things that made AIDS difficult to talk about...

Highly recommended reading for anyone involved in the US Healthcare system.

I wish it were mandatory. ("Talking back to Prozac" is another good one...)

NurseFirst

lsyorke, RN · Nov 22, 2004

Nurse First, I had the pleasure of sitting with Dr. Breggin at the FDA hearings in Bethesda, Maryland. He wrote "Talking back to Prozac". A VERY intelligent man who has gotten a bad rap from the mainstream psychiatric community. The SSRI problem will be a MAJOR problem in the very near future.These aren't the happy pills that most think they are.

11:11 · Nov 22, 2004

The Flu vaccine issue goes all the way back to the 1950's and the first lawsuites surrounding polio vaccines.

It also involves insurance companies not willing to underwrite certain meds/vaccines. Congress made that mistake back in the 1970's epedimic when they insured the influenzae vaccine and lost millions. Now both parties know better.

Flu vaccines are a complex, inefficient,and risky means of making money and thats why almost nobody wants to do it anymore-