statism watch

Mr. Martin may have just found the smoking gun of an artificially created ‘market panic’ for vaccine stocks.

Flashback: Flu vaccine shortage expected to last a week | Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Mass Rejection Of Swine Flu Vaccine Continues Throughout Europe | GlaxoSmithKline profit rises on flu drug | Swine Flu Scam Reaches New Heights With Obama’s Emergency Declaration | Deaths Associated With Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In Europe | US Government Hijacks Kids TV To Propagandize For Swine Flu Shots | Swine flu vaccine approved in Canada | German Government to get special swine flu vaccine | Harper’s hedge on H1N1 shot sparks confusion | Higher instance of severe H1N1 cases in natives, women | UK: National Health Service frontline staff shun H1N1 vaccine | US: Hospitals fear ‘Flumist’ H1N1 nasal vaccine could spread swine flu | New swine-flu wave hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert | Swine flu unlikely to become superbug | UK: Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals | Flu vaccine plan will be too slow: CMAJ | Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America | Canada to order 50.4 million H1N1 vaccine doses – with adjuvant additive | Genetically modified Swine Flu hybrid may provide vaccine yield solution | Washington Post: Swine Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury | UK Government Swine Flu Advisor On Vaccine Maker Payroll | Fast-tracked swine flu vaccine will be safe, officials insist | Swine flu: How scared should we be? | Top Epidemiologist Slams Swine Flu Fearmongering | Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers | Swine flu ‘related’ to 1918 pandemic virus – survivors exhibit resistance | Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe | Researchers unlock secrets of 1918 flu pandemic

Don Martin, National Post
November 2, 2009

It’s time to take the panic out of the pandemic, yet the six million dose question remains: Where are all the vaccines?

The feds cling tenaciously to a production claim that six million doses have already been delivered to the provinces — quoting that statistic no fewer than 12 times in Monday’s Question Period.

That suggests sole-source producer GlaxoSmithKline has shipped enough vaccine to inject one shot of H1N1 prevention into every 5.53 Canadians.

But somewhere between the factory floor and outstretched Canadian arms, a sizable portion of that shipment appears to have gone astray.

While precise statistics are hard to come by, the few provinces posting innoculation progress are a long way from exhausting their allocated shipments, even while they complain about an imminent delivery slowdown this week.

If six million Canadians had already received their swine flu immunization — this being a country where polling suggests only about 16 million plan to get the shot — there’d be no priority list left to immunize and no 3 a.m. lineups by stressed-out parents.

Something doesn’t add up.

Either the production numbers are inflated, the delivery network seriously flawed or the provinces hopelessly overwhelmed by a vaccination blitz they knew was coming three months ago.

This much is certain. Whenever confusion reigns in politics, a blame game breaks out.

That’s why MPs rushed into an emergency H1N1 debate last night, the better to hear themselves unleash swine flu fear and Conservative loathing in front of the cameras — as if anybody was watching.

Behind the scenes, swine flu is starting to stress out a Prime Minister’s Office that is quietly fingering the provinces as the culprit. They even scripted Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to be uncharacteristically blunt, snarling at the pharmaceutical firm for a production slowdown created by federal orders for a safer form of the vaccine for pregnant women.

The provinces, in turn, are looking to defer blame for their delivery failures, which is why they’re huffing and puffing about a vaccine shortage even before they use up their supply.

( Alberta received almost 700,000 doses but closed its clinics over the weekend after injecting 400,000 vaccines. Ontario claims to have done “hundreds of thousands” yet it received over 2.3 million doses. PEI shot up 24,000 islanders during its first week but was shipped 29,000 doses. The rest of the provinces have not posted their numbers.)

But no matter how much the Liberals try to pin every tragic H1N1 casualty on federal foot-dragging, the feds cannot be blamed for all of the program’s problems.

Liberal MP Bob Rae was quite correct when he stood in the House of Commons on Monday to charge the feds with responsibility for delivering a vaccine while communicating a “coherent pandemic response”.

That’s the proper delineation of responsibility – and the success or failure of this government in discharging those duties obviously depends on whether you sit on the Conservative or Liberal side of the House.

Even so, given the billions of tax dollars invested in pandemic preparedness by this and previous Liberal governments, Canadians do deserve better.

It’s been nine years since Canada inked a massive contract for a safe domestic supply of influenza vaccine. We have an expensive stockpile of 60 million antiviral doses for anyone infected before immunization. And, lest we forget, the first Conservative budget in 2006 included a billion-dollar five-year plan to prepare for a pandemic, with a $400-million contingency fund to cope with its arrival – which means now.

With 60 per cent of the vaccination project being covered by the federal government, Ottawa should’ve demanded the right to impose national standards on this roaming herd of provincial cats.

The priority lists have been an incoherent shambles, changing or disappearing altogether depending on the province.

It’s a no-brainer that all health care professionals should’ve been first to get the shot. There’s no excuse for scaring pregnant women by ordering up a special vaccine when the regular version is safe. Private clinics should not have received early shipments of the vaccine for clients willing to buy line-jumping injections. And there’s no way prison inmates should be a vaccination priority and I don’t really care if they’re incubating the bug in a confined quarters.

While the feds can claim credit for getting the vaccine out the door ahead of schedule, they shoulder some blame for the raging confusion in the delivery.

If next week’s shipment of a million doses actually reaches the clinics, here’s hoping the political finger-pointing will slow, lineups will ease and panic is no longer part of this pandemic.

Source | See also under Health: ‘No reason’ to delay seasonal flu shots, global health panel says | Flu Season Has Already Peaked in US, Little Benefit to H1N1 Jab: Study | Flu vaccine shortage expected to last a week | Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Mass Rejection Of Swine Flu Vaccine Continues Throughout Europe | GlaxoSmithKline profit rises on flu drug | No TV for tots under 2, says B.C. pediatrician | Swine Flu Scam Reaches New Heights With Obama’s Emergency Declaration | Deaths Associated With Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In Europe | Canada enters 2nd wave of H1N1 | Specialists now say H1N1 vaccine safe for pregnant women | US Government Hijacks Kids TV To Propagandize For Swine Flu Shots | Swine flu vaccine approved in Canada | Ottawa braces for own eHealth pain | German Government to get special swine flu vaccine | Woman Says Seasonal Flu Shot Triggered Seizures, Rare Disorder | Television – not in front of the children? | Harper’s hedge on H1N1 shot sparks confusion | Passage of Bill C-6 Imminent, Gives Health Canada Warrantless Search and Seizure Powers | McGuinty dismisses calls for eHealth inquiry | Higher instance of severe H1N1 cases in natives, women | UK: National Health Service frontline staff shun H1N1 vaccine | Electronic health is the boondoggle of boondoggles | Military stress injuries on rise | EHealth scandal a $1B waste: auditor | IBM Building Personal DNA Reader | Ontario health minister quits over $1B scandal | BPA in womb linked to aggression in girls | US: Hospitals fear ‘Flumist’ H1N1 nasal vaccine could spread swine flu | HPV vaccine ‘As deadly as the cancer’: Cervarix designer | New swine-flu wave hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Public Health: Mystery tumour ‘likely’ killed British girl after HPV shot | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | British schoolgirl dies after HPV vaccination | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | HIV vaccine achievement bewilders researchers | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | Immortality only 20 years away says scientist | As Olympics loom, B.C. wants to force homeless into shelters in extreme weather | The Case for Killing Granny | Swine flu ‘could kill millions unless rich nations give £900m’ | Massachusets Says Forced Injections, Quarantines For Any “Rapidly Spreading Germ” | Remote B.C. native community hit by flu | Health Canada apologizes for body bags delivered to First Nations for H1N1 outbreak | Ottawa sends body bags to First Nations communities for flu battle | Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert | Up to two million march to US Capitol to protest against Obama’s spending in ‘tea-party’ demonstration | French Government To Use Swine Flu Threat In Crack Down On Liberties | Manitoba launches $47M swine flu plan for mass vaccination centres | UK: Question a doctor about HPV shot and lose your child | UK: Sentenced to death by the National Health Service | CIA doctors face human experimentation claims | Swine flu unlikely to become superbug | UK: Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals | Flu vaccine plan will be too slow: CMAJ | Afghanistan’s Hidden Heroin Addicts | Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America | Canada to order 50.4 million H1N1 vaccine doses – with adjuvant additive | Reduce fetal exposure to BPA and phthalates, experts say | California fertility clinic offers celebrity look-alike sperm | Genetically modified Swine Flu hybrid may provide vaccine yield solution | Greece To Enforce Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccinations | Forced quarantines, vaccinations among pandemic powers provinces could employ | Flu scare a boon to body-bag sales | US House approves sweeping new food powers for FDA | Washington Post: Swine Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury | Organic food no more nutritious, study finds | US Military To Work With FEMA During Swine Flu Pandemic | Social workers erred in removing child from poor parents: report | More untendered eHealth spending, Liberal connections emerge | UK Government Swine Flu Advisor On Vaccine Maker Payroll | Fast-tracked swine flu vaccine will be safe, officials insist | Swine flu: How scared should we be? | Obama tries to save health-care overhaul on primetime broadcast | Top Epidemiologist Slams Swine Flu Fearmongering | Canadian defends anti-medicare ad | UK: Man refused liver transplant by NHS dies | Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers | ‘They were looking for the ideal Manchurian Candidate’ | Swine flu ‘related’ to 1918 pandemic virus – survivors exhibit resistance | Bisphenol A traces found in baby food: Health Canada | Rwanda denies sterilisation plans | Canadian HIV vaccine ready for human tests | Newborn’s Blood Samples Raise Questions of Privacy | Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? | Scottish parliamentarians seek answers as cervical cancer vaccine injuries mount | Flu shots, including H1N1, to require 3 doses | Girl’s forced blood transfusion didn’t violate rights: top court | Manitoba First Nations declare swine flu state of emergency | Chemical ban targets toys, rubber duckies | GAVI foundation’s malaria vaccine trial encounters opposition from wary Kenyans | ABC Turns Programming Over To Government to Promote State Healthcare Agenda | HIV positive women in Africa sterilized, stigmatized | Black ooze at old Cold War station frightens Labrador town | WHO declares swine flu pandemic, no change in Canada’s approach | Aspartame-laden diet pop kicked out of Toronto schools | Manitoba First Nations, health system straining under flu outbreak | Head of eHealth Ontario is fired amid contracts scandal, gets big package | Personal ties exposed in eHealth’s untendered contracts | UK: Call to make MMR jab compulsory | Expand sex ed to all grades: report | Swine flu ‘getting closer’ to pandemic level, WHO official says | France Considers Mandatory Flu Vaccinations | Ontario eHealth approved 4.8 million in no-bid contracts | Genetically modified monkeys pass traits to offspring | Government unveils new tobacco restrictions aimed at protecting kids | Elevated BPA levels in people drinking out of plastic bottles, study finds | Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation | Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests | Meet – and eat – the modified Atlantic salmon | Vaccines delayed, ’still in danger zone,’ for swine flu: UN chief | Canada waiting for WHO guidance on swine flu vaccine | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | Canadian Forces: Worries about child abuse by Afghan allies ‘unfounded’ | 2 Billion Infected? WHO Stokes Swine Flu Fear | Researchers working on swine flu ‘vaccine corn’ | WHO to declare full flu pandemic | Potential pandemic or garden-variety flu? No agreement among experts | Merck Makes Phony Peer-Review Journal | Political Lies and Media Disinformation regarding the Swine Flu Pandemic | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | WHO distributes drug stockpile as swine flu cases rise | Swine Flu: In Mexico, an outbreak of police-state opportunism | Health officials confirm 6 cases of swine flu in Canada, ‘makings’ of pandemic | Illinois-based Baxter working on vaccine to stop swine flu outbreak in Mexico | ‘We have to assume’ swine flu is in Ontario, health official warns | Mexico cancels public events because of deadly flu outbreak | Will recession spark global food crisis? | Supreme Court rejects breast-implant case | Canadians returning from Mexico urged to be on alert for flu-like symptoms | Army: 3 vials of virus samples missing from Maryland facility | Cut ties between Health Canada, drug companies, grieving MP urges | High-fructose sweeteners linked to obesity, diabetes | Psychologists Helped Guide CIA Interrogations | Microchip in a pill to monitor your meds | Mother who smacked son, 8, with hairbrush is forced to give him up to social services | Vioxx, Gardasil maker Merck and Co drew up doctor hit list | Students given suspension notices for not getting booster shots | Ottawa to test taps for cancer contaminants | Stun gun shock to head may cause seizures, doctors warn | Erasing traumatic memory possible, researchers say | Australians refused insurance because of poor genes | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Tests find Bisphenol A in majority of soft drinks | Against protocol, bus decapitation accused released from Ontario institution in 2005 | Details being withheld of listeria discussion held prior to outbreak | Scientists make HIV strain that can infect monkeys | Designer baby row over US clinic | Chair to have final say as residential schools commission jobs rewritten | Cornwall pedophile ring ‘fiction,’ church’s lawyer says | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe | Vaccine Court: Autism Debate Continues | Alberta drug rehab centre abused us, former teen patients allege | Vaccines ‘not to blame for autism’, U.S. court rules | Hepatitis C sufferers haven’t received promised federal money | Electronic immunization records needed: Toronto health official | Ban stun gun use on young people, Ontario child advocate urges | Milk trial defence: Raw milk is safe and food choice a right | Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury | UK Hospitals will take meat off menus in bid to cut carbon | Raw milk crusader returns to court to fight charges | Health Canada silent on cellphone risks for kids | As in Canada, gender-bending chemicals in UK rivers grow more potent | U.S. again denies approval to expand use of Gardasil vaccine | Champix side effects prompt 818 complaints | Missed vaccinations lead to suspension threat | Did Pharma Giant with Gardasil HPV Patents Buy Nobel Prize? | Chemicals feminizing males, study suggests | Major report to reveal male gender under threat from pollutants | FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children | End water fluoridation, U of T dental professor says | CBC broadcasts “The Disappearing Male”, an expose of hormone-disrupting plastics | Experts set to revisit global cloning ban | Health Canada adds bisphenol A to list of toxic substances | Plastics ingredient linked to feminization in children | Tests find melamine in candies, milk, infant formula from China | Report urges long-term funding for HPV vaccine | Scientists Note Hormones in Water, Feminization of Fish Downstream of Montreal | New study raises concerns Bisphenol-A could be related to heart disease | Govt. Report: Fluoride in Water Supply Harms Thyroid Function | Frequent school lockdowns raise questions | Air freshener chemicals could impact fertility: study | Are we already dining on clones? | Bisphenol tied to lower brain function | Revealed: The serious health concerns about the cervical cancer jab | Study finds higher rate of reactions to HPV shot | Radiation touted to protect meat | Dementia drugs still prescribed, despite warnings | Chemical Industry Source of Hyped FDA Study ‘Exonerating’ Plastic Bottles | Researchers Question Wide Use of HPV Vaccines | Vaccines Found to Cause Diabetes in Children | Pfizer to be called on carpet in Nigeria for experimenting on children | Pesticides, pollutants threaten Canadian tap water, researchers suggest | Cut children’s fluoride exposure, report to Health Canada urges | Kids and cellphone warning | Sludge biosolids decried as ‘toxic stew’, used as fertilizer | Cellphone use potentially risky for kids, teens: health agency | CDC reports almost 8,000 adverse reactions to “Gardasil” HPV vaccine in U.S. | Is HPV Vaccine to Blame for a Teen’s Paralysis? | Home-grown veg ruined by toxic fertiliser | Alberta to offer HPV vaccine this fall | Ottawa knew breast implants harmful, case alleges | Naturopaths Fear Proposed Bill C-51 | The tiny, useful particle that could also be a health problem | Farmer Surveilled, Raided for Natural Milk Operation has Trial Delayed | Discovery of HPV in male oral cancers leads to vaccination call | Families will make case for vaccine link to autism | HPV vaccination program raises concerns in B.C. | Canada’s C-51 Law May Outlaw 60% Of Natural Health Products | Homeless people die after bird flu vaccine trial in Poland | Perspective on the HPV vaccine | Gardasil shots have earned a painful reputation | Vaccine-linked polio hits Nigeria | Deaths associated with Merck’s HPV vaccine (Gardasil), over 3500 adverse affects reported | Bush To Veto Ban On Mercury In Vaccines | Government knew of HIV risk from imported blood | Political Intrigue in Merck’s Push for Mandatory HPV Vaccinations | Codex Alimentarius — An Emerging Threat | Polio Warning Issued for Travel to Nigeria | Bayer Continued Selling Contaminated Blood Product in 1980s | Aids scandals around the world | Blood Money: The Clinton Ties to the Blood Scandal

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