Militarizing health care: The bird flu nightmare scenario

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Saturday, October 15, 2005 11:36 AM

Militarizing health care: The bird flu nightmare scenario

 

 

 

http://counterpunch.org/colson10142005.html

 

Saturday, October 15 @ 09:30:48 EDT

 

 

 

Militarizing health care: The bird flu nightmare scenario

 

Nicole Colson, CounterPunch

 

The outbreak of a bird flu pandemic could kill tens of

millions--maybe hundreds of millions--of people around

the world. But rather than come up with a sane plan to

help contain the spread of avian influenza, the Bush

administration is viewing the threat of the emerging

illness as an opportunity--to push for even greater

domestic powers for the U.S. military.

 

With new human cases of H5N1--a particularly lethal

strain of the illness--emerging in Indonesia, public

health experts warn that a major global pandemic is on

the horizon if the virus mutates into a form that is

easily transmissible from human to human.

 

Estimates of the death toll in a major outbreak range

from 7 million on the low end to as high as 360

million--or one in every 20 men, women and children on

earth. National Institutes of Health expert Dr.

Anthony Fauci called the threat " the mother of all

emerging infections. "

 

But George W. Bush sees an opportunity to exploit.

Bush told reporters earlier this month that he would

be willing to enforce a quarantine in the event of a

bird flu outbreak in he U.S.--with the " use of a

military that's able to plan and move. "

 

 

 

Congress may already be helping Bush's wish become a

reality. The Senate Armed Services Committee is

reportedly considering proposals to increase the

military's role in natural disasters by creating

National Guard units specializing in disaster

response--and clearing the way for active troops to

engage in law enforcement activities on U.S. soil,

something that's currently illegal.

 

Congressional aides recently told U.S. News and World

Report that some senators are also considering

introducing legislation that would allow the Feds, in

" extreme circumstances, " to take command of the

National Guard without first getting approval from a

governor.

 

Bush claims a military response to a flu pandemic is

necessary because the Pentagon is " the institution of

our government most capable of massive logistical

operations on a moment's notice, " and has the ability

to quickly mobilize needed equipment, personnel and

communications capabilities.

 

But just weeks ago, police and military forces on the

ground in New Orleans proved that their primary

function was to " keep order " and quell unrest--not to

feed, house or give aid to tens of thousands of people

in desperate need.

 

At heart, the administration's aim of using the

military for disaster relief is less about

" efficiency " --and more about expanding using the armed

might of the Pentagon at home, just as it has used the

military around the world. As the Washington Post put

it, Bush's most recent comment, " conjuring images of

soldiers shooting as sick people try to cross a cordon

sanitaire--could have been a scare tactic. In fact,

there is no legal, let alone ethical, means of

enforcing mass quarantine in this country, and flu

viruses, which don't always produce symptoms in the

early stages, wouldn't obey them if there were. "

 

If the Bush administration was really concerned about

preventing an avian flu pandemic, it would give huge

amounts of aid to impoverished countries to help halt

the spread of the disease. And it would devote more

federal money and research toward the study of the

avian flu strain and the production of vaccines and

medications to treat it.

 

Instead, the administration's own " Pandemic Influenza

Strategic Plan, " a draft of which was leaked earlier

this month to the New York Times, shows that the

administration is woefully unprepared for a major

outbreak. The 381-page plan calls for quarantine and

travel restrictions, but concedes that such measures

" are unlikely to delay introduction of pandemic

disease into the U.S. by more than a month or two. "

 

In the " worst-case scenario " laid out in the

administration plan, 1.9 million Americans would die

and 8.5 million would be hospitalized. That's more

conservative than the actual " worst-case scenario "

predicted by many health experts--in which as many as

100 million people in the U.S. would become infected.

 

The plan calls for " triage distribution " of both flu

vaccine and Tamiflu, an antiviral drug shown to be

most effective so far in treatment. First in line

would be workers in plants that make the vaccines and

drugs, as well as medical personnel working directly

with those sickened by the disease--followed by the

elderly and severely ill.

 

The plan omits all mention of where military personnel

would fit into this hierarchy. But as author and

activist Mike Davis wrote in a recent issue of the

International Socialist Review, the Pentagon recently

released " a memorandum assigning priority use of

antivirals like Tamiflu to military forces on active

duty around the world. " Plus, earlier this month, the

American Forces Press Service reported that the

Pentagon has been stockpiling vaccines and antiviral

drugs to combat avian flu--to make sure military

personnel are first in line for treatment.

 

Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of

defense for health affairs, said the Pentagon has to

protect service members first because " in event of an

outbreak, we may well be called in to assist with

civil authorities in the United States, or to assist

in evacuations of personnel from overseas. "

Winkenwerder admitted, " The step we have taken for the

military is that we obtain the first amounts of that

vaccine. "

 

Overall, the Bush administration's strategic plan

calls for a domestic vaccine production capacity of

600 million doses within six months--more than 10

times present capacity--and a national stockpile of

133 million courses of antiviral treatment. So far,

though, the government has only about 2 million doses

of vaccine and 4.3 million courses of Tamiflu.

 

And in a sickening twist, many American drug companies

no longer even make flu vaccines--because there is

little long-term profit to be made in vaccine

manufacturing.

 

Meanwhile, Tamiflu is manufactured by Roche

Pharmaceuticals in a single plant in Switzerland--and

the company has been hard-pressed to meet the

increasing demand for the drug. Yet, according to

Davis, " When a Thai representative at a recent summit

conference on avian influenza proposed that Tamiflu be

generically manufactured to increase supply and reduce

the cost...the United States and France circled the

wagons around Roche's monopoly. Likewise, the Bush

administration has rebuffed Vietnam's desperate pleas

for help in establishing a comprehensive system of

viral surveillance and testing. "

 

Avian flu poses a greater menace than any phantom

" weapon of mass destruction " ever did. But the Bush

administration isn't interested in protecting the

lives of ordinary people.

 

While they protect profits and step up the power of

the military, the result could be a massive death toll

for ordinary people around the globe.