Flutopia - Flu Shot Gone Wild

Did you get your flu shot?

You better not have unless you are demented, old, young, too young, too old, sick or on the way to being sick, have ED, have Heart Problems, or cancer, but if you are a healthy bastard with no health insurance. DON'T GET ONE!

How fitting, to distract one from the perrils in the rest of the world we finally found a way to get screwed by monopolies in this country. Republicans and Libertarians LISTEN UP! This one is for you.

Chiron gets shut down by the UK's version of the FDA. Great! So there is a mass confusion and upheaval that this occured, John Kerry went as far as blaming Bush. I wouldn't go that far. I would blame the constant consolidation of this great Pharmaceutical Industry for this one folks.

Once again if there is something I know a little about it is the Pharma Industry. Yes they help people, if it wasn't for them we would all die a lot earlier. However, it scares me to death to think that every year there seems to be some consolidation of two massive companies and now we are down to basically 4-6 massive corporations which supply the world's medicines.

Amazing how 4-6 people control the health or potential wellness of the world population.

The flu season was predicted to be mild this year (fact check). Last year Chiron only made $200 million dollars from the flu shot, selling only half of what it had intended. This year it was slated to make $400 million. Supply and Demand Folks, they had the supply last year but no demand. This year they nor the UK was going to let that happen again this year. The UK got involved and shut those bastards factory down.

From a Dr. Greene article:

"In the 2002-2003 flu season, where the flu shot numbers have been analyzed, only 57.6 million of the people who should have gotten the flu shot actually got it – not too different from the number who will get it this year. The difference is that in most years, only about 1/3 of the people for whom the shot is recommended actually bother to get it."

This year the UK stepped in and tipped the balance in favor of demand. Much like the oil industry has tipped the balance in the demand field. What this does is indeed increase the price of the commodity in question.

This year Chiron shall not fall to the waistside of selling flu shots. The demand has never been so high as people from all over are lining up to get shot up. Even Dick Cheney got one! Proof that he isn't a cyborg programed to destroy all of the middle east.

So what is one to make of this HOOPLAH over the Flu Shot. I will tell you. IT'S A SCAM. Conveniently Aventis has begun to bail out Chiron witha couple of million more doses. Market forces failed these companies last year on this one so with the power of consolidation and billions of dollars have now created a market. Of course the UK regulatory body had a little something to do with it all. Of course had they not stepped in we would have all had the chance to get a flu shot however, the likelyhood of it being contaminated would have been 2 fold since half of the US doses come from the factory in the UK.

This may sound like a conspiracy theory but if I am right don't forget what was written here on this blog today. Chiron and Aventis will merge. This is my prediction.

Once again we miss the lesson here. Corporations becomming ever more powerful at the cost of the American public. If these corporations would have succumned to market forces of the public, they would have to lower prices to affordable levels. There would be less room for consolidation and more power in the hands of more people.

If it wasn't for government regulating these companies they would be selling us damaged goods which would probably cause more harm than good.

So much for the government not checking up on Corporate theives.