Swine flu: can we have our £1 billion back now, please? [excerpt]

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http://snipurl.com/u2o2o [Telegraph, UK]Swine flu: can we have our £1 billion back now, please?By James Delingpole Politics Last updated: January 12th, 2010>>Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, accused the makers of flu drugs and vaccines of influencing the World Health Organisation’s decision to declare a pandemic.This led to the pharmaceutical firms ensuring ‘enormous gains’, while countries, including the UK, ’squandered’ their meagre health budgets, with millions being vaccinated against a relatively mild disease.We’ll probably never know how much the whole scare cost us, but the unneeded drugs alone cost us £1 billion.Dr Wodarg’s claims come as it emerged the British government is desperately trying to offload up to £1billion of swine flu vaccine, ordered at the height of the scare.Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson last year ordered the NHS to plan for up to 65,000 deaths” Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson last year ordered the NHS to plan for up to 65,000 deaths.The Department of Health warned of 65,000 deaths, set up a special advice line and website, suspended normal rules so anti-flu drugs could be given out without prescription and told health and local authorities to prepare for a major pandemic.Planners were told to get morgues ready for the sheer scale of deaths and there were warnings that the Army could be called in to prevent riots as people fought to obtain drugs.But with fewer than 5,000 in England catching the disease last week and just 251 deaths overall, Dr Wodarg has branded the H1N1 outbreak as ‘one of the greatest medical scandals of the century’.Christopher Booker has written a piece today excoriating the Government “scare machine” which helps promulgate scandals like this. But while, of course, our fullest disgust should be reserved for government Safety Nazis, corrupt WHO officials, and Big Pharma profiteers, let us at least save a raspberry or two for the useful idiot members of the public who helped make their actions possible.I refer of course, to the type of weapons-grade prats whose favourite radio programme is Radio 4’s You And Yours; the ones who believe fervently in the importance of the “precautionary principle”, and that no Government intrusion can ever be too great or too expensive if it’s done in the name of public safety. Naming no names, obviously, Kaytie.<<

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