[NVIC] Bird Flu Testing or Liability Protection Exercise?

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E-NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER

Vienna, Virginia http://www.nvic.org

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UNITED WAY/COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN

#8122

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" Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982. "

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BL Fisher Note:

It is no coincidence DHHS officials are holding a pandemic flu " readiness "

exercise just before Congress is slated to vote on immunizing drug companies

for all liabiliy for vaccine injuries and deaths caused by pandemic flu

vaccines and other vaccines used whenever the Secretary of Health declares

an " emergency. " High stakes politics involving billions of dollars calls

for high profile PR campaigns to make sure government's new " partner " - the

pharmaceutical industry - does not have any legal responsibility for the

harm suffered by people when they follow orders by government health

officials to take government " recommended " vaccines.

Government Tests Readiness for Pandemic

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

Last update: December 10, 2005 at 2:21 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - After role-playing an outbreak of pandemic flu, federal

officials said Saturday that saving lives and containing the economic damage

will require more planning in local communities and increased production of

vaccines and medications.

" This is a time for us to be informing but not inflaming. It's a time for us

to inspire preparation but not panic,'' Health and Human Services Secretary

Mike Leavitt told reporters at the White House. About 20 Cabinet secretaries

and government officials spent four hours testing the government's readiness

for any flu outbreak.

" We have time to become the first generation, literally, in the history of

man to do something to be prepared for a pandemic,'' Leavitt said.

President Bush's homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend said that in the

little time left before lawmakers adjourn for the year, Congress should

approve the $7.1 billion in emergency flu preparedness funds that the

president has requested.

But the prospects for the request are not clear, as conservatives in the

House oppose rubber-stamping it without finding spending cuts elsewhere in

the budget. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has advocated for

the money.

" Days matter,'' said White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy.

Though in town for the weekend, the president did not participate in the

drill. While it was going on around a C-shaped table in a large room in the

White House complex, Bush left for nearby suburban land to ride his

mountain bike for more than an hour. Vice President Dick Cheney was in his

White House office for part of the time, but also did not attend.

Duffy said Bush would be briefed in detail, but didn't need to take part

because his role as director of the effort to prepare and respond is already

well-defined.

" The president's been focused on this for years,'' he said. " It is

impossible to have the kind of candor and open discussion and a useful

preparedness exercise with the president and/or the vice president in the

room.''

Fears of a pandemic have increased as a virus infecting millions of birds

has spread throughout Asia and parts of Europe. While bird flu has not yet

appeared in the United States, or spread from person to person, officials

worry it could mutate and - because humans have no immunity to it - become

as contagious globally as the annual flu.

So far, the virus has killed about half of the 120 people who have

contracted it, all as a result of close contact with poultry.

The administration is working under the worst-case assumption that as many

as 90 million Americans would become sick and 2 million would die during a

worldwide flu pandemic, which could be caused by the bird flu or another

strain. A moderate pandemic would kill about 209,000.

Officials would not describe the real-world but hypothetical scenarios,

modeled by emergency preparedness experts based on previous pandemic

outbreaks in the United States, that were used to drive the exercise or the

discussions they inspired. Duffy would say only that it was " a very

thorough'' exercise, and that it wasn't the first that had been conducted by

the federal government.

Townsend said the drill confirmed that the most important part of the

administration's plan for getting ready for any outbreak is looking for ways

to speed the production of vaccines and stockpiling more of the antiviral

Tamiflu, which can reduce the severity of the disease if taken early enough.

Another linchpin is the role of state and local governments, officials said

afterward. Leavitt plans to travel to all 50 states to coordinate and boost

pandemic preparation.

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