Andy Ousterhout wrote: > Read all the way to the bottom. > > How the vaccine works: > > Influenza vaccine is produced by growing the virus in eggs. The virus is > killed and processed to create the vaccine, which is given by injection under > the skin. The body then produces antibodies to the virus over the next two to > four weeks. If the immunized person then comes into contact with the influenza > virus, the antibodies attack and kill the virus before it has a chance to > cause infection. The vaccine contains the 3 most likely strains to be active > during the "flu season" > > Why the shortage: > > Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered this year. > Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, will not be distributing any > influenza vaccine this flu season. Chiron was to make 46-48 million doses > vaccine for the United States. Chiron is a British company. Recently British > health officials stopped Chiron from distributing and making the vaccine when > inspectors found unsanitary conditions in the labs. Some lots of the vaccine > were recalled and destroyed. > > Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US? > > The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost 90% of the > nations flu vaccine at one time. They did this despite a very low profit > margin for the product. Basically, they were doing us a favor. In the late > 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the vaccine got the flu. The > strain he caught was one of the strains in that years vaccine made by a US > company. What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awarded almost $5 million! > After that case was appealed and lost, most US pharmaceutical companies > stopped making the vaccine. The liability out weighed the profit margin. Since > UK and Canadian laws prohibit such frivolous law suits UK and Canadian > companies began selling the vaccine in the US. > > By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law suit > was John Edwards.
This may be true. I don't have the time to fact check it. But even if was true, it is more of a commentary on the legal system then it is on John Edwards. -- 2004 - The year $184M couldn't buy a pennant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes by Ben Forta http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=40 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:132771 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
