Former U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-Fl.) makes the case that the U.S. must better prepare for pandemics like H1N1.
The answer is to create the infrastructure for rapid development of large quantities of safe vaccines and medicine. Modern methods will shave months off the typical six-to-nine months that current processes require. The newer methods can produce more vaccine and be quickly scaled-up, on demand. The investment in new technologies will generate benefits for both public health and national security.
Graham made these remarks in his capacity as chair of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. Former Senator Jim Talent (R-Mo.) is the vice-chair.
Graham, who famously logs his daily activities in spiral notebooks has embraced the digital age and cleverly named his blog, “The Spiral Notebook.”
Our friends over at Pollster.com report on the results of a recent Pew survey on what stories voters are most closely following:
Most Closely Followed Story
32% Reports about swine flu and the vaccine
27% Debate over health care reform
15% Reports about the condition of the U.S. economy
9% The U.S. military effort in Afghanistan
4% the federal government’s plans to cut the pay of top executives at financial companies that received bailout money
1% News about political instability in Pakistan
They also have some very interesting data on the news outlets voters turn to for information on the issues of the day.
Chris “The Fix” Cillizza takes a look at H1N1 through a political prism.
It’s hard not to see the way the Obama administration is handling the H1N1 outbreak through the lens of the Bush Administration’s handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
On Friday night, President Obama declared the spread of the H1N1 virus a national emergency.
This morning, the New York Times has a run down on the challenges facing government as it tries to help keep up with demand for H1N1 vaccines:
Earlier this month, the government was forced to announce that only about 28 million doses would be available by the end of this month, about 30 percent below the 40 million it had previously predicted. That is not enough to satisfy panicky people who are lining up for vaccine around the country or desperately phoning their doctors and public health departments.
Vaccine shortage stories are a permament part of the journalism cycle, kind of like stories about rising gas prices in summer, and “isn’t this the most negative campaign ever” stories in October.
Here’s a useful resource from the White House on how to deal with the H1N1 and seasonal flu: Flu.gov
