October 17, 2004 The Year of government stupidity. Now I don’t want to go off on a rant here, BUT… Let’s see if I got this straight… The current administration … whose one of many campaign promises is to NOT outsource jobs overseas, has in fact outsourced our nations health this year. I think I heard someone say we cannot get needed less costly medicine from other countries because of the extreme poor quality and potential safety concerns of bad medicine. SO, with that steadfast rule locked in place, our government outsourced a large portion of this years medicine for flu shots to a country overseas whose entire supply was found to be contaminated because of poor quality and therefore useless. Now we have created a panic among the elderly who are so scared, they are standing in line for hours in the hot sun to get their flu shot. A seventy year old man stood in line 8 hours to get his flu shot, arriving at 1 am like he was getting tickets to a Britney Spears concert. That scene was repeated all over the country this weekend as the nation’s supply dwindled. Another elderly couple got in line at 11 pm the night before to insure they would get there’s. Oh … they got there’s all right, along with the unfortunate 79 year old woman who died in line from head injuries when she passed out while standing in line for hours. In Shreveport, La., 600 people showed up for 250 doses. In Clovis, California a 78 year old man stood in 90 degree heat while holding ticket number 264 out of the promised 300 flu shots. He got his, but the sad part is that it was his second day trying to get a shot. I’m sick and tired of campaign bullshit that says things that are not true , half true , or when asked a question about loss of jobs, the response is we are going to make it easier for you to go to college. Sorry, but that is not what I want to hear. How can I go to college if I’m unemployed? Who is going to pay for my food, my house, my electricity for my family? Just once I want to see all debates be graded for truth, not half truth, but exact truth. Kerry mentioned 125 facts of which 84 were correct giving him a score of XYZ. And Bush’s record of promises from 4 years ago along with his current statements came up with a correct and honest score of XYZ. Don’t tell me you are against sending work overseas while it’s going on. Don’t tell me we can’t trust other countries medicine and then kiss off our entire countries health because of that exact thing. Tell us the truth. We can handle it. Unfortunately it is too late, especially for the elderly who are dying in line trying to save their lives. .......UPDATE...January 7, 2005....... Now we have too much!!!!!!!!! January 7, 2005 update........ By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY The flu-shot shortage has turned into a surplus in some areas, raising fears that some vaccine might be wasted. Aventis Pasteur, supplier of almost all flu-shot vaccine for the USA this year, still has about 3.3 million doses to distribute to U.S. consumers. GlaxoSmithKline is on tap to ship 1.2 million shots from Europe. And MedImmune, maker of a nasal vaccine, has supplies. But more than a dozen states contacted by USA TODAY say they have enough vaccine to meet demand. That is because many people at high risk for the flu opted to forgo shots this season, believing other people needed them more. The USA lost nearly half its flu vaccine last fall after manufacturer Chiron's 48 million doses were declared unusable because of contamination fears. A mild flu season also has eased the demand. That could change if the season picks up. But for now, some states are struggling to use up vaccine: • California has about 200,000 doses available and 300,000 more that will become available soon for California medical providers to order. Even though consumers want shots, doctors and other providers are hesitant to order vaccine because they think it is late in the flu season, says Howard Backer, chief of California's immunization branch. "They're afraid of getting stuck with vaccine," he says. Typically, most flu shots are used before Jan. 1. • Arizona doctors canceled 10,000 dose orders because of weak demand. Minnesota has 20,000 to 25,000 doses even after shipping some to Louisiana. • Massachusetts could get 60,000 more doses but won't take them because it still has vaccine, says Nicole St. Peter of the state's department of health. Washington is eligible for 160,000 more doses, but it still has 30,000 of its original 160,000.