H1N1 Virus: The Audacity Of Hype!

Rivalled only by "Global Warming", the "swine flu" has all the earmarks of a costly government debacle.

So far, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the H1N1 virus has killed 10,000 Americans, while all forms of influenza kill approximately 36,000 Americans annually!

Given these numbers, whose authenticity I have no reason to doubt, what's the big deal?  Let's put our sleuth hats on and FOLLOW THE MONEY!

It seems to me, I've heard something of a highly recommended vaccine.   And, like you, I'm sure Big Pharma's motives are completely humanitarian - in this case, Swiss-based Novartis.  As of November 19, 2009, more than 65 million doses of vaccine had been administered in over 16 countries.  Given a world population of nearly 7 billion, this means that 0.1% of the world has been vaccinated, thus making it obvious that the death toll has NOT been affected positively by the vaccine.

However, regardless of the triviality of the risk of death resulting from H1N1 itself, the COST of the vaccine is NOT!  New York City is a perfect example.  According to the New York Daily Times, protecting worried city dwellers from the virus - which did not claim nearly as many victims as feared -  newly released numbers showed an average cost of  $155 a shot.

The H1N1 panic peaked at the end of summer, when doomsday estimates put the possible death toll at 90,000 Americans.  Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a massive plan to vaccinate and educate the city.  Braced for a pandemic, the city spent $31 million on its swine flu campaign.

In most cities, the recipient pays little to nothing for the vaccine.  However, if the NYC example is extrapolated to the 65 million doses, the total cost  comes out to a "trivial" $10 billion!

The approval in the U.S. and Europe for Novartis' swine flu vaccine will help boost performance, with 90 to 120 million doses expected to be produced by the end of the year.  That is projected to increase fourth quarter net sales by $400 to $700 million.  Merry Christmas, Novartis!

To make matters worse, the cash cost is not the ONLY cost of the vaccine.  As it turns out, the "cure" itself is believed to be risky and even DEADLY.  According to a medical newsletter called "Mercola", the vaccine  contains cancerous cells from animals (http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/08/Another-Shocking-Warning-About-Swine-Flu-Vaccine.aspx).

In fact, the insert to the vaccine admits to a wide range of side effects (http://www.fluscam.com/Vaccine_Package_Inserts_files/Novartis_A-H1N1_2009_Monvalent_VaccinePackageInsert_BasedOn1980Approvalfor%20Fluvirin_UCM182242.pdf).

Sadly, this isn't the first "swine flu" fiasco.  A similar boondoggle occured in 1976 (http://www.examiner.com/x-6495-US-Intelligence-Examiner~y2009m7d10-CBS-60-Minutes-300-death-claims-from-1976-swine-flu-vaccine-only-one-death-from-flu).  In the earlier debacle, history shows the vaccine was more deadly than the flu itself!!!!

Still want the "guvment" running health care?

You know what to do if you have some comments.  TAKE ME ON!

Marko's Take

Obamacare... Part 2: When The U.S. Gets Involved In Medicine

By now you're sick of hearing the words "swine flu".  But, unless you're old enough, you may not realize that a form of swine flu threatened the world in 1976 in the last year of the Ford Administration.  That swine flu first showed up in February of that year, when Private David Lewis at Fort Dix died of a form of severe influenza not seen since the plague of 1918-19.  That plague took 500,000 American lives and 20 million people worldwide.

Within two weeks, an additional 500 soldiers had been stricken with swine flu, although none of them died. However, officials realized that any flu capable of spreading so quickly had the makings of a bona-fide pandemic.  Pvt. Lewis was the ONLY person to actually die from swine flu in 1976, but the quickly developed vaccination killed HUNDREDS of Americans, despite a cost of $135 million.

To be fair to President Ford, he was in a no-win situation.  Had he NOT acted he would surely have been held accountable for any mass deaths.  By the end of the year, the vaccine had been administered to 220 million Americans.  As Jimmy Carter assumed the Presidency, reports began to surface of the vaccination's many side effects, including neurological problems. 

Joseph Califano, one of the earliest to use the word "fiasco" in describing the swine flu situation, later came to the conclusion that it was unavoidable.  Califano, who President Carter appointed Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, admitted that the doctors had no choice but to err on the side of caution.

Since the 1976 caper, things have become much more complex.  The Obamacare bill itself is approximately 2000 pages and was written in 17 days!  Senator Harry Reid himself has added an ADDITIONAL 383 pages to an already bloated bill loaded with pork for EVERY Senator voting for it.  One example is $100 million for Senator Chris Dodd's favorite hospital.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, healthcare provided 14.3 million jobs in 2008 and 10 of the largest 20 occupations are healthcare related.  It's expected to generate an additional 3.2 million jobs between 2008 and 2010, more than any other industry, primarily the result of an increasingly elderly population.

So, now we know that our government's experience with healthcare is poor and the industry is huge and getting bigger.  We know that Obamacare is massive, incomprehensible to virtually anyone and loaded with pork in order to get the 60 Senate votes.  

The whole situation reminds me of a great commercial decrying drug abuse:  This is your head (looking at a raw egg).  This is your head on drugs (looking at the eggs being scrambled in a frying pan).  Any questions?

I'll cover some of the economics of Obamacare tomorrow.  Please "Take Me On" in the Comments section below.

Marko's Take