Over 1000 websites mention it here via Biotechnology News:
I quote:
Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers
By MIKE STOBBE (AP) – 20 hours ago
ATLANTA — The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to head that off.
Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday.
Since the 1980s, the government has protected vaccine makers against lawsuits over the use of childhood vaccines. Instead, a federal court handles claims and decides who will be paid from a special fund.
The document signed by Sebelius last month grants immunity to those making a swine flu vaccine, under the provisions of a 2006 law for public health emergencies. It allows for a compensation fund, if needed.
The government takes such steps to encourage drug companies to make vaccines, and it's worked. Federal officials have contracted with five manufacturers to make a swine flu vaccine. First identified in April, swine flu has so far caused about 263 deaths, according to numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.
The CDC said more than 40,000 Americans have had confirmed or probable cases, but those are people who sought health care. It's likely that more than 1 million Americans have been sickened by the flu, many with mild cases.
The virus hits younger people harder that seasonal flu, but so far hasn't been much more deadly than the strains seen every fall and winter. But health officials believe the virus could mutate to a more dangerous form, or at least contribute to a potentially heavier flu season than usual.
"We do expect there to be an increase in influenza this fall," with a bump in cases perhaps beginning earlier than normal, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the regular winter flu vaccine, a final step before shipments to clinics and other vaccination sites could begin.
The last time the government faced a new swine flu virus was in 1976. Cases of swine flu in soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J., including one death, made health officials worried they might be facing a deadly pandemic like the one that killed millions around the world in 1918 and 1919.
Federal officials vaccinated 40 million Americans during a national campaign. A pandemic never materialized, but thousands who got the shots filed injury claims, saying they suffered a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome or other side effects.
"The government paid out quite a bit of money," said Stephen Sugarman, a law professor who specializes in product liability at the University of California at Berkeley.
Vaccines aren't as profitable as other drugs for manufacturers, and without protection against lawsuits "they're saying, 'Do we need this?'" Sugarman said.
The move to protect makers of a swine flu didn't go over well with Paul Pennock, a prominent New York plaintiffs attorney on medical liability cases. The government will likely call on millions of Americans to get the vaccinations to prevent the disease from spreading, he noted.
"If you're going to ask people to do this for the common good, then let's make sure for the common good that these people will be taken care of if something goes wrong," Pennock said.
AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report from Washington.
On the Net:
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers
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BASEL
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Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers
To resist the influence of others, knowledge of one's self is most important.
Draw from your past....... but don't let your past draw from you
Yama, The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was..... is lost. For none now live who remember it.
For all your Computer needs www.btlogic.co.uk
Draw from your past....... but don't let your past draw from you
Yama, The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was..... is lost. For none now live who remember it.
For all your Computer needs www.btlogic.co.uk
Worring indeed. Thje whole thing is kind of worring truth be told. Not being told one way or the other for the pros or cons of getting a jab and for people with Diabetes or parents of babies and youngs kids also old people it's like you're between a rock and a hard place. Don't know if diabetics and old people are covered with the flu jab they normally get each year or not. To be honest I'll be holding of with any jab for now either way. And when the company are covering themselves like this it makes me more ill at ease on any typew of jab.
Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Workin' in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What's down in the dark will be brought to the light
Workin' in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What's down in the dark will be brought to the light
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BASEL
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- Posts: 1328
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- Location: dark side of the moon
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I totally decided that i will not go near it with a barge pole
To resist the influence of others, knowledge of one's self is most important.
Draw from your past....... but don't let your past draw from you
Yama, The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was..... is lost. For none now live who remember it.
For all your Computer needs www.btlogic.co.uk
Draw from your past....... but don't let your past draw from you
Yama, The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was..... is lost. For none now live who remember it.
For all your Computer needs www.btlogic.co.uk
-
BASEL
- Site Administrator
- Posts: 1328
- Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:24 am
- Location: dark side of the moon
- Contact:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...4F1123CBFC1C0F
Government virus expert paid £116k by swine flu vaccine manufacturers
By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 6:37 PM on 27th July 2009
Sir Roy Anderson
Conflict: Sir Roy Anderson faced demands to resign
A scientist who advises the Government on swine flu is a paid director of a drugs firm making hundreds of millions of pounds from the pandemic.
Professor Sir Roy Anderson sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), a 20-strong task force drawing up the action plan for the virus.
Yet he also holds a £116,000-a-year post on the board of GlaxoSmithKline, the company selling swine flu vaccines and anti-virals to the NHS.
Sir Roy faced demands to step down yesterday amid claims that the jobs were incompatible. 'This is a clear conflict of interest and should be of great concern to taxpayers and government officials alike,' said Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance.
'You cannot have the man in charge of medical emergencies having any financial interest in the management of those emergencies. We need someone totally unbiased to tackle this crisis.'
The Department of Health and GSK denied there was a conflict and said Sir Roy did not attend Sage meetings where vaccines and drugs were discussed.
Sir Roy was appointed to Sage to 'provide cross-government scientific advice regarding the outbreak of swine flu'. He was one of the first UK experts to call the outbreak a pandemic.
During an interview for Radio Four's Today programme on May 1, he praised the anti-flu drugs and called for their distribution. Listeners were not told he was paid by GSK.
The West London-based drugs giant has had to defend itself from allegations of profiteering from swine flu after posting profits of £2.1billion in the last three months.
Sales of the company's Relenza inhaler, an alternative to Tamiflu used by pregnant women among others, are expected to top £600million. This figure could be boosted by up to £2billion once deliveries of the firm's swine-flu vaccine begin in September.
Sir Roy, 61, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, earned £116,000 at GSK last year, at least a quarter of which he received in shares.
GSK's share price has risen 10 per cent since May from about 1,060p to more than 1,160p.
A spokesman for GSK insisted there was no conflict of interest. 'Professor Anderson stepped down from the government's flu advisory group on appointment to GSK.
'In May, he was asked to rejoin as a temporary member as the scale of the influenza pandemic became evident.
He is a world authority on the epidemiology of infectious diseases and his positions as an adviser to the government and as a member of GSK's board are entirely appropriate.
'These interests have been declared at all times and he has not attended any meetings related to purchase of drugs or vaccine for either the government or GSK.'
A spokesman for Imperial College said Sir Roy's temporarily appointment to Sage was made 'with the full knowledge of the government departments involved in handling the pandemic'.
He added: 'He is not a member of the drug or vaccine sub committees of the flu advisory group.'
During the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, Sir Roy's advice to Tony Blair led to the culling of more than 6million animals.
The previous year at Oxford University, Sir Roy was at the centre of controversy after claiming a female colleague had slept with her boss before getting a job.
He was forced to apologise and pay compensation.
A university inquiry in the wake of the scandal found that he was in breach of rules by failing to disclose his business interests as director and shareholder of International Biomedical and Health Sciences Consortium - an Oxford-based biomedical consultancy, which had awarded grants to his research centre.
Sir Roy was forced to resign, although his career soon recovered. He moved to Imperial College within months, was made the Ministry of Defence's chief scientist and, last year, took over as Rector of Imperial College, London where he earns up to £400,000 a year.
Fears for life-support mum
Sharon Pentleton
Swine flu victim: Sharon Pentleton is fighting for her life
A pregnant mother with swine flu battling for life in a Swedish hospital could be there for months, staff said yesterday.
Sharon Pentleton, 26, has a rare complication of the disease and she and the baby are being kept alive on a life support system in the capital Stockholm.
But because she is six months pregnant, it could take weeks or even months before she is able to come off the machine, said a spokesman at Karolinska University Hospital.
Miss Pentleton, who has a two-year-old daughter, was airlifted to Sweden by private jet on Thursday because the NHS ran out of beds to treat her.
She has adult respiratory distress syndrome and needs to be on a ECMO machine which oxygenates her blood outside her body.
The NHS has only five ECMO beds, and Sweden has only four - two of which are now taken up with swine-flu victims. The hospital spokesman said Miss Pentleton, from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, remained critical but stable.
Her partner Brian Muirhead, 30, has flown to the Swedish capital along with her father James. Outside the hospital last night, Mr Muirhead said: 'She is getting excellent care here but it is a very difficult time.'
Yesterday it emerged that the NHS is prepared to fly more swine-flu victims by private jet to hospitals across Europe if its intensive-care services become overwhelmed.
The Health Department confirmed it has signed agreements with other countries to provide critical care in the event of excessive demand.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0MX3rCRO1
Read a lot more here...http://birdflu666.wordpress.com/2009/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cm74KIicfc
Cheers to OP on Avalon.
Government virus expert paid £116k by swine flu vaccine manufacturers
By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 6:37 PM on 27th July 2009
Sir Roy Anderson
Conflict: Sir Roy Anderson faced demands to resign
A scientist who advises the Government on swine flu is a paid director of a drugs firm making hundreds of millions of pounds from the pandemic.
Professor Sir Roy Anderson sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), a 20-strong task force drawing up the action plan for the virus.
Yet he also holds a £116,000-a-year post on the board of GlaxoSmithKline, the company selling swine flu vaccines and anti-virals to the NHS.
Sir Roy faced demands to step down yesterday amid claims that the jobs were incompatible. 'This is a clear conflict of interest and should be of great concern to taxpayers and government officials alike,' said Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance.
'You cannot have the man in charge of medical emergencies having any financial interest in the management of those emergencies. We need someone totally unbiased to tackle this crisis.'
The Department of Health and GSK denied there was a conflict and said Sir Roy did not attend Sage meetings where vaccines and drugs were discussed.
Sir Roy was appointed to Sage to 'provide cross-government scientific advice regarding the outbreak of swine flu'. He was one of the first UK experts to call the outbreak a pandemic.
During an interview for Radio Four's Today programme on May 1, he praised the anti-flu drugs and called for their distribution. Listeners were not told he was paid by GSK.
The West London-based drugs giant has had to defend itself from allegations of profiteering from swine flu after posting profits of £2.1billion in the last three months.
Sales of the company's Relenza inhaler, an alternative to Tamiflu used by pregnant women among others, are expected to top £600million. This figure could be boosted by up to £2billion once deliveries of the firm's swine-flu vaccine begin in September.
Sir Roy, 61, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, earned £116,000 at GSK last year, at least a quarter of which he received in shares.
GSK's share price has risen 10 per cent since May from about 1,060p to more than 1,160p.
A spokesman for GSK insisted there was no conflict of interest. 'Professor Anderson stepped down from the government's flu advisory group on appointment to GSK.
'In May, he was asked to rejoin as a temporary member as the scale of the influenza pandemic became evident.
He is a world authority on the epidemiology of infectious diseases and his positions as an adviser to the government and as a member of GSK's board are entirely appropriate.
'These interests have been declared at all times and he has not attended any meetings related to purchase of drugs or vaccine for either the government or GSK.'
A spokesman for Imperial College said Sir Roy's temporarily appointment to Sage was made 'with the full knowledge of the government departments involved in handling the pandemic'.
He added: 'He is not a member of the drug or vaccine sub committees of the flu advisory group.'
During the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, Sir Roy's advice to Tony Blair led to the culling of more than 6million animals.
The previous year at Oxford University, Sir Roy was at the centre of controversy after claiming a female colleague had slept with her boss before getting a job.
He was forced to apologise and pay compensation.
A university inquiry in the wake of the scandal found that he was in breach of rules by failing to disclose his business interests as director and shareholder of International Biomedical and Health Sciences Consortium - an Oxford-based biomedical consultancy, which had awarded grants to his research centre.
Sir Roy was forced to resign, although his career soon recovered. He moved to Imperial College within months, was made the Ministry of Defence's chief scientist and, last year, took over as Rector of Imperial College, London where he earns up to £400,000 a year.
Fears for life-support mum
Sharon Pentleton
Swine flu victim: Sharon Pentleton is fighting for her life
A pregnant mother with swine flu battling for life in a Swedish hospital could be there for months, staff said yesterday.
Sharon Pentleton, 26, has a rare complication of the disease and she and the baby are being kept alive on a life support system in the capital Stockholm.
But because she is six months pregnant, it could take weeks or even months before she is able to come off the machine, said a spokesman at Karolinska University Hospital.
Miss Pentleton, who has a two-year-old daughter, was airlifted to Sweden by private jet on Thursday because the NHS ran out of beds to treat her.
She has adult respiratory distress syndrome and needs to be on a ECMO machine which oxygenates her blood outside her body.
The NHS has only five ECMO beds, and Sweden has only four - two of which are now taken up with swine-flu victims. The hospital spokesman said Miss Pentleton, from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, remained critical but stable.
Her partner Brian Muirhead, 30, has flown to the Swedish capital along with her father James. Outside the hospital last night, Mr Muirhead said: 'She is getting excellent care here but it is a very difficult time.'
Yesterday it emerged that the NHS is prepared to fly more swine-flu victims by private jet to hospitals across Europe if its intensive-care services become overwhelmed.
The Health Department confirmed it has signed agreements with other countries to provide critical care in the event of excessive demand.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0MX3rCRO1
Read a lot more here...http://birdflu666.wordpress.com/2009/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cm74KIicfc
Cheers to OP on Avalon.
To resist the influence of others, knowledge of one's self is most important.
Draw from your past....... but don't let your past draw from you
Yama, The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was..... is lost. For none now live who remember it.
For all your Computer needs www.btlogic.co.uk
Draw from your past....... but don't let your past draw from you
Yama, The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was..... is lost. For none now live who remember it.
For all your Computer needs www.btlogic.co.uk
-
BASEL
- Site Administrator
- Posts: 1328
- Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:24 am
- Location: dark side of the moon
- Contact:
Northern Ireland still has half a million swine flu jabs unused, reports BBC
To resist the influence of others, knowledge of one's self is most important.
Draw from your past....... but don't let your past draw from you
Yama, The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was..... is lost. For none now live who remember it.
For all your Computer needs www.btlogic.co.uk
Draw from your past....... but don't let your past draw from you
Yama, The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was..... is lost. For none now live who remember it.
For all your Computer needs www.btlogic.co.uk