American Senate To Protect Vaccine Makers Against Patient Virus.

[Guest guest]

" Patient Virus " is a highly infectious disease that is spreading all over the

globe. It is worse than bird flu and AIDS. At risk are pharmaceutical companies,

corrupt medicare personnel and inefficient administrations. It originated

sometime around the early 1940's and all efforts to eradicate the disease has so

far failed. Hence the need for vaccines which are now slated to hit the market

in various forms, having various techno-legal names.

 

Strangely this virus seems to protect the general public against a malady

called " modern medicine " . The medical industry is concerned that this virus

might mutate and spread to infect its own folk. The symptoms of the resultant

disease among the industry insiders are restlessness, pangs of remorse and

" whistle blowing " . It is the latter symptom that is the most worrying, say

medical experts.

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-14-vaccine-protection_x.htm

From USA Today, Dec 14.

Senate provision would inoculate vaccine makers

By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Flu vaccine makers would be shielded from lawsuits under sweeping

language Senate Republicans hope to slip into a bill before Congress adjourns

for the year, a move that has sparked outrage from Democrats and consumer

advocates.

A vote could come as early as Friday, said Amy Call, a spokeswoman for Senate

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the plan's chief supporter. Frist hopes to

insert the provision into a must-pass defense bill.

Medical experts fear that a fast-spreading avian flu strain, known as H5N1,

could trigger a pandemic flu outbreak should it develop the ability to spread

easily from person to person. President Bush has requested $7.1 billion to help

detect and respond to pandemic flu and help states prepare response plans.

It is unclear whether Congress will act on the Bush request, which includes

the liability provision, this year.

Details of the vaccine liability plan were still being worked on Wednesday.

One version would allow patients harmed by flu vaccines to sue drug companies

and distributors for damages only if they can prove willful misconduct.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and watchdog groups such as Public Citizen say

that standard is too high and would effectively bar compensation to victims.

They say the measure is so broad that it could apply to virtually any drug used

to treat " epidemics, " which could include such conditions as diabetes.

They contend that the federal government already has the power to protect drug

companies and that patients harmed by flu vaccines should be treated the same as

those injured by vaccines for measles, chicken pox and other childhood diseases.

A federal " no-fault " program that went into effect in 1988 offers compensation

for patients injured by childhood vaccines and is funded by a tax on every dose

of the covered vaccines that are purchased.

Jillian Aldebron, a spokeswoman for Public Citizen, said that if the vaccine

liability proposal had been law in 1976, 4,000 people who became ill after

taking the swine flu vaccine would have had no recourse to seek compensation.

Neither would military personnel and first responders who suffered heart attacks

and other problems after taking smallpox vaccine in 2003, she said.

" They are trying to insert this outrageous giveaway to the drug industry ...

without public scrutiny or debate, " Kennedy said. " Congress should reject any

backroom deal that gives a free pass to companies that act irresponsibly or

denies fair compensation to injured patients. "

 

Please read entire article at;

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-14-vaccine-protection_x.htm

 

(Made available through an environment news provider)

 

 

We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war

than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

-- General Omar Bradley