Obama proclaims H1N1 "national emergency"

by Mritunjay | October 24, 2009 at 08:01 am

929 views | 46 Recommendations | 11 comments

It is official. President Obama has signed a proclaimation which declares H1N1 a national emergency. Till now the government has been ttreading cautiously on the matter with different tones from different quarters. This will allow the medical facilities and doctors more scope to handle the patients. Though vaccines have bene procured and vaccination is on almost all over the nation, the vacination has been affected by availability and reach.

Hopefully the new measure will help control the situation more effectively.

President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the H1N1 influenza a national emergency, giving doctors and medical facilities greater leeway in responding to the flu pandemic.

Obama signed the declaration late Friday, which the White House said allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis. "The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels -- personal, business, and government -- and this proclamation helps that effort by advancing our overall response capability," the White House said in a statement. The flu has infected millions of Americans and killed nearly 100 children in the U.S. The chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that over a thousand people have died as a result, with 46 states reporting widespread H1N1 activity. "Since the beginning of the pandemic, we've seen more than 1,000 deaths and 20,000 hospitalizations," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC. "We expect it to occur in waves, but we can't predict when those waves will happen." Sixty million Americans have been vaccinated against the seasonal flu this year, but an additional vaccine against H1N1 has been in short supply. About 120 million doses were expected to be made available by the middle of October, though only 11 million doses have been shipped to health departments for use.

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a211423

at 09:38 on October 24th, 2009

In California vaccine is in short supply or not available at all. The conversation has changed radically from whether to get vacinated to why isn't there enough being made. This could result into a panic situation because of the long lines and people being turned away when vaccine runs out.

This is a national emergency, and it needs to be addressed as such. The warnings of the last year are here, and the companies making vaccine knew how much was needed, so why isn't the vaccine here?

Mritunjay

at 11:10 on October 24th, 2009

The growth projects of the market itself show how this H1N1 scare will convert in revenue terms for the cos.:

H1N1 influenza (swine flu) vaccine market is forecasted to grow beyond $7 billion in next two years, according to a report by Markets and Markets, a research and consulting firm.

H1N1 swine flu vaccine market, which is currently estimated to be of 676 million in 2009 with first lot of doses being commercialized on 30th September’ 2009, will peak to $7.03 billion in 2011 growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 222.4% from 2009 to 2011.

The high-speed growth, however, will settle down by 2012 to 30% for the period of 2009 to 2012.

The reason for the sudden settle down of the growth is that it is expected that most of the world population will be immunized by the end of 2011, said the report.

a211423

at 12:00 on October 24th, 2009

Mritunjay

Thank you for the statistics and information.

Pregnant women are four times more likely to be hospitalized with swine flu than the general population.
http://wcbstv.com/health/h1n1.and.pregnancy.2.1251609.html

So if vaccines aren't 100% safe, why risk them?

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/is-the-h1n1-swine-flu-vaccine-safe

Why should I believe what government scientists say about swine flu?

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/is-the-h1n1-swine-flu-vaccine-safe?page=2

Read packaged inserts with vaccines.

http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/package_inserts.htm

How do vaccines work.

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/10/all-us-get-flu-shot

The New Pandemic of Vaccine Phobia

http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/david_shenk/2009/10/vaccine_fear.php

Mritunjay

at 12:21 on October 24th, 2009

Thanks for the valuable addition.

a211423

at 12:29 on October 24th, 2009

You are welcome : )

Mritunjay

at 17:01 on October 24th, 2009

It sounded worse that it was. Late Friday evening, with a stroke of his pen, President Barack Obama declared H1N1 a national emergency. The statement said that Obama does "hereby find and proclaim that, given the rapid increase in illness across the Nation may overburden health care resources and that the temporary waiver of certain standard Federal requirements may be warranted in order to enable U.S. health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency."

Rhonda J Mangus

at 23:30 on October 24th, 2009

Why President Obama Declared Swine Flu Emergency? (NowPublic Author, nirajan)

Mritunjay

at 05:29 on October 25th, 2009

Because of vaccine production delays, the government has backed off initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses would be available by mid-October. As of Wednesday, only 11 million doses had been shipped to health departments, doctor's offices and other providers, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The government now hopes to have about 50 million doses of vaccine for the so-called swine flu out by mid-November and 150 million in December.

"We are nowhere near where we thought we'd be by now," CDC Director Thomas Frieden said Friday. "We share the frustration of people who have waited in line or called a number or checked a Web site and haven't been able to find a place to get vaccinated."

The flu virus has to be grown in chicken eggs, and the yield hasn't been as high as was initially hoped, officials explained.

nanute

at 08:17 on October 26th, 2009

The chickens didn't come home to roost?

Jahoba (not verified)

at 14:29 on October 26th, 2009

I'm reading this from the UK. A few years ago there was a threat of an avarian flu pandemic. At the hight of the propaganda I watched and listened with interest to (if my memory serves me) the united nations head pendemiologist. He state that "Over the next five years there will be between 50,000 and 5,000,000 human deaths in the UK alone". I will remember this comment for a long time.

YankeeJim

at 14:33 on October 28th, 2009

I went to the doctor in September and got the routine flu shot. I asked about N1H1 swine flue vaccination and the doctor said they were awaiting instructions -- check back. I checked back and checked back until I finally contracted the disease.

Hey, Obama, stop making speeches that are full of hot air and manage to get real performance from your administration. There are too many things started and unfinished. Swine flu isn't something to mess with -- I am suffering now and the Obama administration gets a chicken egg for failing to turn my 10 day old embryo into something useful.