In a story revealing that Canadian physicians are setting aside doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu for family and friends in the event that forecasts of a bird flu pandemic are borne out, the CBC lists the reasons against “stockpiling”:
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Allison McGeer of Toronto’s Mount Sinai said she understands why some of her colleagues are acquiring a personal stockpile of Tamiflu. Ethically, though, she said the federal government should be protecting everyone.
“The best protection if we don’t have vaccine is one dose of prophylactic for every Canadian for every day for two waves of the pandemic,” McGeer said.
The idea of personal stockpiles of Tamiflu worries most public health officials like McGeer, and some are advising doctors against writing the prescriptions.
The reasons against stockpiling are:The resistance hypothesis � Widespread use of Tamiflu among patients with influenza could lead to resistant strains of flu, potentially making the drug useless. Shelf-life: Tamiflu is only guaranteed for five years, yet no one knows when a pandemic will hit. Equity: At $5 per pill, not everyone will be able to afford a personal stockpile.
Emphasis mine.
We have just been reminded that simply having the financial resources to purchase your own medications is reason enough to be denied access to them.
This is what Trudeaupia has come to. We are rapidly moving past the “equity” of months long waiting lists and zero-tier Health Care Prohibition Zones into a hyper-socialist model where “universality” is defined as a government policy that applies as equally to health care denied as it does health care provided.
With a shelf life of 5 years, a family’s investment in Tamiflu works out to $1 a year per pill, per person. In the insanity that has become the Canadian health care system, this fact is actually cited as a reason not to allow Canadians to make it.
Without saying so in so many words, official government policy towards the pandemic we are all being warned is coming, is this: until every Canadian can afford to set aside a handful of $5 pills, death equity for Canadians will remain official Canadian Government policy.
Investing $1,000 or so in a stockpile that could potentially save my life sounds like a better return than any RRSP.
The price is irrelevant to the story, other than the obvious interpretation you’ve made. Besides, low income patients, in Alberta, anyway, have access to Blue Cross through the gov’t, so what’s her point?
It’s not a matter of the price it is the fact that you are not going to be allowed to do something, the situation in engineering would be until everyone can afford a calculator you have to keep using your slide rule.
Here is another thought – even when nothing happens we want to debate and worry about some dreadful thing that might happen. We can keep ousleves so busy inventing and then debating nightmares.
Good thoughts Kate! Let’s not forget, that like all socialist states, there is a tier of healthcare that is available, for free, to anyone who has public visibility or connections. For example, I doubt that anyone who can embarrass the system, will have to wait for anything. Can you imagine the outcry if a MSM journalist got stuck on a waiting list, or a politician, or even a key community business personality? And, then there are the family and friends of top bureaucrats and healthcare providers… do you think for a minute that they get stuck on waiting lists? Not a chance.
We are living in the USSR 2005, as far as healthcare goes… but the public, by and large, sleeps on!
Hmm, then of course there is the problem that the physicians and their families will be front line in exposure to the epidemic. Also, what the hell are we all going to do if it kills off all the doctors?
This is the same Liberal government that wanted to spend my tax money to provide everyone in Canada with broadband Internet access whether they wanted/needed it or not.
As long as the Liberals and their allies in the NDP and Bloc insist that all Canadians be restricted to lowest common denominator health care we will continue to have people dying because of long waiting lines.
When will they ever learn that allowing private insurance and private delivery of health care will RAISE the bar for health care in this country, not lower it.
This sums up the envious, shallow mindset that holds back this country. The old “only so much to go around, therefore anyone getting more is stealing from me” attitude. You’d think people could see the folly of this Third-world attitude, but I guess that just shows how far Canada has fallen in so many ways.
I don’t believe the WHO or the CDC for one minute. This is bull. Just think of all the money companies like Aventis make each year selling flu shots. Billions and billions. And many years it isn’t even the right shot. I decided to do my own research last year and guess what? This is just a big con job everyone. Read on…
If you check the CDC’s own records you will see that of the 62,000 or so deaths attributed to influenza/pneumonia in the US for 2001, when broken down, actually indicate less than 300 died from the influenza. The rest died from pneumonia. They insist on reporting these two figures together for some strange reason.
This is how I did my research. I went to the CDC Website and downloaded the following PDF document:
National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 52, No. 3, September 18, 2003
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr52/nvsr52_03.pdf
If you want to do your own research then do a search for J10, which is influenza (flu) to find all info on it. I did the work for us and located the following information.
If you go to page 31 you will find the table titled “Number of deaths from 113 selected causes by age: United States 2001 – Con”. If you look at the 6th line from the bottom you will see these three lines (I retyped these from the report):
Influenza and pneumonia (J10-J18)……………….. 62,034
Influenza (J10-J11)……………………………………….. 257
Pnuemonia (J12-J18)…………………………………….. 61,777
I found additional information on page 35. The table layout is either identical or very similar, but it lists death rates per 100,000. As you can infer from the fifth line from the bottom of the table, death from influenza is a one-in-a-million event (again, I retyped these from the report):
Influenza and pneumonia (J10-J18)……………….. 21.8
Influenza (J10-J11)……………………………………….. 0.1
Pnuemonia (J12-J18)…………………………………….. 21.7
By their own numbers most of the deaths attributed to the flu influenza were actually pneumonia. I was unable to find any discussion of the flu as a precursor to pneumonia on the CDC site, so I assume they don’t think it important enough to keep statistics of this.
I have asthma but I do not take the flu shot. I hardly ever get sick. This is all a big con job to get governments to invest billions and billions in flu shots each year. And guess who’s benefitting? Transnational labs like Aventis. I wonder who owns these labs?
The flu can be a precursor to pneumonia; regardless, those are interesting stats. I’m overall healthy, but get the flu shots every year because the years I haven’t, I pay.
Avian flu seems alarming to me, but I haven’t read enough about it to form an intelligent opinion. However, if it’s spread by birds… it has pandemic potential. Alternatively, it could be like West Nile, which was going to kill us all off. Instead, how many people get it, let alone die from it, in any given year?
John,
Aventis parent company is sanofi aventis out of France(no doubt), with Jean-Fran�ois Dehecq as the CEO. Aventis head office in Canada is in Laval Quebec. If one was to dig deeper there is probably a lot more juicy ties in the mix…
Candace. I think we all need to do our own research into these things. We can’t believe everything we read or hear. And most people are pretty stupid. I mean, look around you. How may people do we see who smoke, eat highly processed food, drink excessively. And a lot of these folks want us to believe what they say. I’ll do my own research thank you.
With the Internet being what it is, we are able to find information on just about anything. I believe that the CDC, WHO and others do not have our best interests at heart.
As well, research scientists and research labs get their funding from, guess who, governments and pharmaceutical companies mostly. And if they find a cure for something they will get no more grants to research it. So they often don’t publish the truth. In many cases they cover it up, in order to ‘stay in business’.
And doctors and the medical profession certainly don’t want us all to be healthy. Heaven forbid, they would have nothing to do. So they prescribe pills for treating the symptoms. They are not the least interested in treating the causes. To be fair though, would most people eat healthy, do more exercise, stop smoking and drink less if they were told to by their doctor? I don’t think many.
I’m out for a couple hours. This is a good thread. Hope it continues.
I am willing to bet my allotment that the MPs have got their asses covered already, as well as ‘key members’ of the snivelling service.
Candace, so far the bird flu does not appear to be able to make the human to human transmission leap, but the great fear of the WHO is that is largely just a matter of time before this dangerous strain mutates into this capability.
The Monger (http://www.monger.blogspot.com/) seems to be on hiatus since the beginning of May, but if anyone knows how to get a hold of him, it’d be great to get his perspective on flu vs pneumonia and comments on this thread…
Thanks rob. It took me about 30 seconds to make one interesting connection. One of the directors of sanofi aventis is a Robert Castaigne. Robert Castaigne is also the Chief Financial Officer of Total SA.
Total Fina was formed in 1999 when France’s Total bought Belgium-based PetroFina. It became Total Fina Elf in 2000 with the acquisition of French rival Elf Aquitaine. The company renamed itself as Total S.A. in 2003.
Guess who’s on the board of Total. Paul Desmarais senior.
Total is the same company that made so much money out of the Oil for Food fraud. Demarais is a supporter of the UN, the One World Government movement and, of course, the Liberal Party of Canada.
An interesting side note. Aquitain bought several of my paintings for their Calgary Office in the 60s. It’s a small world.
LOL John,
It doesn’t only tie them to Desmarais, but also to M Strong/Martin/Chretian and Power Corp.
The social agenda invading your body, what a concept.
Never had a flu shot in my life, and the extent of drug intake for me is maybe an aspirin once a year. The more I learned, the less I’ve taken…
Rob. I figured people could make those connections. It goes on and on actually. But it does seem to begin with Desmarais senior.
I’m following up on this. It’s looking like a very interesting picture. Problem is that, in blogs like Kate’s, we’re preaching to the converted. This stuff really needs to get into the MSM.
I wish I were an Alberta lawyer with time on my hands. I’d raise a few eyebrows on several issues and I’d beg to be sued. Then I’d countersue and the games and discoveries would begin. The MSM would have to pay attention then.
The Regional Coroner for Hamilton, Ont. is now probing six deaths for possible links to fake heart-drug pills called Norvasc, ( made by Pfizer), and sold out of a pharmacy there. Officials have not yet linked the death to the fake pills. (Another reason for not taking any pills at all?)
The fakes are a different colour than the real Norvasec. This was noted by a woman who bought the pills, and a sample was confirmed as a fake by the manufacturer.
I’m sure the MSM would pay attention John when the courts found you in contempt for being a public nuisance.
Now if you don’t mind I’ve got a fresh pouch of pipe tobacco, a bottle of good Port, a bowl of buttered eggs with sour cream and mayonnaise, and a comfy chair with my name on them lined up for tonight, so why don’t you take a flying leap at a rolling doughnut off a short pier?
You may as well; you can’t stop me anyway.
“[The FDA] has recently seen an increase in counterfeiting activities as well as increased sophistication in the methods used to introduce finished dosage form counterfeits into the otherwise legitimate U.S. drug distribution system…drug counterfeiting poses real public health and safety concerns today, and may pose an even greater threat in the future…”
http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/counterfeit/report02_04.html
Counterfeiting occurs worldwide and is more prevalent in developing countries. The FDA estimates that more than 10 percent of drugs worldwide are counterfeit. In some countries, more than 50 percent of the drug supply may be made up of counterfeit drugs. For example, recent reports reveal that in Africa, more than 50 percent of antimalarials are thought to be counterfeit. It is also believed that up to 30 percent of drugs in Southeast Asia and China may be counterfeit.
It’s amusing to see how worried the pharmaceutical industry gets over con men stealing some of their own profits. No honor among thieves, I suppose.
The biggest laugh of all comes when you realize that the prescription drug industry is counterfeit to begin with! It’s based on fraudulent studies, dubious hype, marketing propaganda, and a system of drug “safety” at the FDA that’s nothing less than criminal in its negligence. If there’s a scam going on, the pharmaceutical industry is the biggest scam of all. What they don’t want is some small-time scammer edging in on their big-time scam.
This is only my opinion of course. 🙂
Tony, I could be wrong, but isn’t that “flying fu.. at a rolling donut”? And why is a donut rolling? I would think you ate it…
Although, Tony, I’m impressed that you, too, do enjoy the occassional bottle of good port…:-)
I actually know a pretty good joke about a donut. Some other time and place.
I fail to see, Stephen, how my non-substitution of the word “leap” would have added to my point, given consideration for the kind of language our publican likes to see on this (her) site. Also, I don’t generally do doughnuts, or most other kinds of nuts for that matter, but I do sometimes like to toy with them in blog comments.
Clean it up guys. I’m going to sit back and watch the Lions kick butt in TO.
Bird Flu, Smurd Flu, who cares.
I just spent 14 hours waiting at the Foothills Hospital Emergency to get my 85 years old father admitted for chest pains. ( Tip: If you want to get the head of the line always mention that you are experiencing chest pains, whether you really are or not.)
Six hours to see a doctor, 7 � more to find him a bed.
During this time I was able to ponder the hard work being done in Ottawa over SSM.
If Paul Martin had visited the waiting room, just the pensioners alone, would have made sure that there was one less Librano to kick around.
After awhile though I realized that if this is how the relatively small number of seniors living in the richest city in the richest province of Canada are treated now, we boomers and younger are totally screwed. I think that last bit could use a stronger adjective.
Pass the buttered eggs, please.
Before I pass the buttered eggs (by the way, do you have a receipt?), I’d prefer to know if you are cholesterol or lactose adverse. Since I’m neither and have healthy measures on fats and all other dietary metrics, BMI, &c, it’s ok for me to eat them, since I’m still being responsible. But it would be dangerous for me to put you at risk, considering our litigious society, especially since I don’t even know you.
I guess it would be too much to hope for that some Libs were on these tapes. A few investment bankers would be nice though.
Who is the Video Vixen?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050625/VIXEN25/TPEntertainment/?query=video%2Bvixen
While I have no comment other than general matters of ethics per one’s other significant others on the Video Vixen story, the line that really caught my I when I read it over at Neale News was, “Early-morning coffee runs are spent figuring out whose expense account can absorb the $3,000 bill from the previous night’s outing at For Your Eyes Only.’
Crooks.
Well back to the flu theme, my son is a type 1 insulin dependent diabetic. He came down with the flu just about the time SARS hit. We get flu shots regularly. If you are Type 1-IDD, good luck regulating your blood sugars when you can’t keep your food down.
Not very amusing when your lungs are 2/3 full of fluid. This took about 7 days of 27/7 by his parents to monitor. Just what we need is another round of a more virulent flu.
I should like to express my best wishes to Cal, on the matter of his father, and Hancor, on the matter of his son.
For the record, it is not my intention to deny others their circumstances, it is only my intention to deny others my circumstances. No-one else can be you; no-one else can be me.
Remember, you can’t walk a mile seeing through another man’s shoes. Ahh, I love to wake up and smell the writing of fractured aphorisms on the wall in the morning.
If nothing else, sociopathy is certainly fasincating.
hancor. Sorry to hear about your son. Life sucks sometimes. Having type 1 diabetes increases your risk for many serious complications. My daughter has type 2, as does a good friend. Not as serious as type 1 though. If your son doesn’t react to a flu shot then it’s probably a good idea to get one.
We catch the flu from viruses that we pick up from other people. I’m thought of as being a bit paranoid by some of my friends. I never touch door knobs, public phones, etc. Never. But they get sick every year and I hardly ever do.
Candygram. Kiss my ass. As for heading for the hills, I hope I see you up there sometime. If you have guts enough to identify yourself we’ll discuss this further. You know who I am. I don’t hide behind no sissyass acronym. Don’t pay no attention to this scum Cal. Consider the source.
Hey Candygram…or should that be pansygram? I see you have stooped to the regular low-level name calling of all your ilk.Can’t come up with a coherent argument?
Kate…please ignore this goompah..and please don’t ban..if they get the guts to identify themselves…I think a few of us would like to hear the theories and provide some feedback.You see,Candygram,even trolls who can argue logically and nicely are welcome at most conservative blogs.And,perhaps unlike you,at least a cu** serves a purpose.
Per Ardua AD Astra
Actually, “Candygram” is more like a Slinky(tm): fairly useless, but still brings a smile to your face if you push ’em down a flight of stairs. 😉
By the by, try clicking on his name — the result’s hilarious. Reminds me a lot of the CBC’s The National, only a bit more sophisticated in the B.S. department (i.e., uses a front-end loader rather than a garden shovel). Kinda like some of Jeremy Rifkin’s more fevered ravings.
Oderint, dum metuant.
Good call on the link, Garth.
What a senseless waste of human life, eh?
Garth Wood. You are a funny guy. I’m goin’ to use that slinky reference for something. It’s too good not to recycle.
John C:
Thanks for the kind words. Better than we got out of Canada Revenue Agency.
In their first letter to us they said my son’s condition is not life threatening; this despite Health Canada’s own website saying diabetes accounts for 20% of all mortalities!
Second letter from CRA suggested to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit we had to show that “if treatment were withheld an organ or group of organs vital to sustain human life would fail.”
So there you have it folks; CRA suggested we withhold insulin from my son and of course in the process kill him. This obviates the need for the Disability Tax Credit; however I would be short one son.
Your brilliant government working for you.
Please note that my 10:39 comment referred to a no longer existent comment by one Candygram. I just want to make it clear that I wasn’t impuning sociopathy to anyone else here.
I had a similar comment left dangling out of context elsewhere, with Maz falsely appearing to take the shot. You got off lucky — in your case, here, it appeared that you were commenting on your own 10:37 post.
Yes, there are some commentors who get no warning. I don’t delete comments very often here, but there are some that are no-brainers.
Trust a couple of left wingers to add so much carefully considered and fact-based thought into a thread about health care in Canada.
I suppose that explains the years long waiting lists.
Yeah, that’s it, Kate.
I use Tamiflu in my veterinary hospital. But I am going to keep a little more around now. I can also get an MRI done on a dog, cat, or snake within one week of ordering it. Why? Because the clients pay for it, so the gov’t can’t ration it.
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