When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced earlier this fall that the nation's flu vaccine supply would be cut in half, the government and the people were somewhat concerned. One of only two companies making flu shots for the United States was unable to sell 48 million doses because of contamination.
Discussion about the country's preparation for bioterrorism and the military's development of its own vaccine-producing facility ensued, as did more speeches about providing adequate health care from the John Kerry camp.
But the election is over and new and more exciting stories like the Scott Peterson murder trial came up, and the threat of influenza was overshadowed. Sure, hospitals and clinics had to turn away even those most needy -- the elderly, people with heart disease and asthmatics -- but there was nothing major to worry about.
That is until Nov. 26, when the WHO (the World Health Organization, not the band) announced the world is facing a possible flu pandemic fueled by the bird flu currently attacking Asian countries.
The good news is that pandemics aren't a new thing: They go around in 20- to 30-year cycles. Since 1890, there have been four, the biggest one being the Spanish Flu Pandemic, which hit between 1918 and 1919 and killed about 20 million people.
The bad news is although the medical field has progressed immensely in the past century or so, the virus and how it spreads have also.
The one to produce the next pandemic will likely come from a domestic animal; Asian and European scientists predict a pig that has its own strain of influenza. If the bird flu strain combines with the pig flu strain, it would produce a virus we have no immunity to.
Considering the amount of international travel that takes place around the flu season and the great records countries such as China have in sharing information (SARS? We don't have that here), it's coming. And living in a First World bubble may not save us.
All we've got going for us is two U.S. firms working on finding a vaccine (though both admit it won't be ready till at least March) and the promise of Asian health ministers, including China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to work together to stop the flu from spreading.
I don't know why, but somewhere in the back of my mind I have this strange feeling that trusting the Cambodian government is a bad move.
So I'm going to stay true to my welfare state upbringing and suggest the unimaginable: governmental involvement in regulating and producing the flu vaccine.
In the past, market forces were not enough to keep pharmaceutical companies producing the flu vaccine, hence the shortage this year. The government can help prevent shortages by providing incentives for pharmaceutical corporations -- both increasing production and providing tax incentives for low profit-margin vaccines.
The research, production and infrastructure to distribute vaccines (should a tragedy like the pandemic or a terrorist attack happen) ought to be a priority for our government now more than ever.
Instead of hiding behind the fear of interference with the private sector, all the governmental bodies -- including the Pentagon, Homeland Security, Food and Drug Administration, CDC and our congressional representatives -- should take the threat currently facing Asia as a global threat.
This year, thousands of Americans for whom the flu may mean life or death were turned away or put on a waitlist. Our government should take proactive steps in making sure this doesn't happen again, pandemic or not.
Lucia Bill is a journalism and political science sophomore. Reach her at lucia.bill@asu.edu.
