Flu injection price "scams"?

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The BBC reports the following disturbing, if not entirely unexpected, news. Boooooooooooo!

"US probes flu jab 'price scams'

The US has lost almost half its annual supply of vaccine
US Health Secretary Tommy Thompson has urged local officials to investigate reports of companies raising prices to exploit a flu vaccine shortage.
The US lost nearly half its annual supply this month after the UK stopped a drug company exporting the vaccine, amid fears it could be contaminated.

US officials have been trying to arrange deliveries from other countries, such as Canada.

But they say it will be hard to get regulators to approve them by winter.

Long queues have formed at pharmacies in the US as people try to get hold of the vaccine......"

Full story here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3745416.stm

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dlowan- The situation is really very sad. I had been discussing a lot of this on:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35720&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=40

The whole situation is very disturbing, but there is a larger, more generic problem about the flu shots. Flu shots are given once a year. The companies who make the vaccine really have to made educated guesses about which strain of flu they need to make vaccines against. I had read that in most years, the companies end up throwing out millions of doses. As a result, there is little fiscal incentive for many companies to go into the flu vaccine business. As a result, with so few providers, if there is a screw up, as there was this year, the American public suffers.

What is interesting is that during this shortage, people were asked not to go for their flu shot unless they are at risk. In another article that I read recently, someone postulated that there was a way to insure that there would be adequate supplies, with more drug companies producing the vaccines. That is, an advertising campaign to show the benefits of flu shots for EVERYONE!

P.S. I have been seeing more and more signs in my area that are announcing the cancelling of the flu shots. I am so glad that my family already got theirs!

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Yikes.

Thanks for the link!

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Flu injection price "scams"?

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