Potential Pandemic Pandemonium: Swine Flu Who's Who

I wrote this comment to post on a blog post entitled,"Get Ready for Pandemic" in May. At this time there was evidence that people will be left out of treatment. Now with the new swine flu vaccine, the designated list of who gets it first has been made known. That alone may be enough to fuel pandemic pandemonium as new cases and deaths erupt daily. (** Thanks to the AC 360 blog for moderating on my comment. Posting it on this blog may reach more people.)

Dr. Flynn & Dr. Redlener, this is a great assessment and all so true. After seeing the actual response, and reading the “unfinished” (states Stage 3 is in progress) 336 page HHS Pandemic Flu Guide, The Pandemic Toolkit from Roche (makers of Tamiflu), pandemicflu.gov, and much more, we have so much more to do.

It would be nice to know that the national stockpile has more than the 50 million doses* for a 300 million plus population, many who are not able to afford it.
Add to the pandemic flu all the other natural disasters occurring daily, and it is easy to see that the health system and all systems will have a tough challenge to keep all safe. As you say, individuals must take responsibility and communication must be ongoing.

Thanks for this great article.

My footnotes added here:*Doctrine of HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan circa 2005, page 6,"
4. Quantities of antiviral drugs sufficient to treat 25% of the US population should be stockpiled." (how did they get this number?) and "8. At the onset of the pandemic, antiviral drugs from public stockpiles will be distributed to health care providers for administration to pre-determined priority groups." (who exactly is this?)

Are we ready for a pandemic? Or pandemic pandemonium?

by J.L. Richardson, MD family medicine doctor, and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide, http://mypatienthandbook.com/ .

More emergency information at Emergency Exchange, http://emergencyexchange.blogspot.com/ .

**http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/05/still-unprepared-for-a-lethal-pandemic/