Worth knowing

[Guest guest]

Can this be proven about the John Edwards part?

 

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121

Healing

Monday, October 25, 2004 10:25 PM

Worth knowing

 

 

> Take the time to read this . . . it's very interesting.>>> How Flu Vaccine works:> Influenza vaccine is produced by growing the virus in eggs. The virus is> killed and processed to create the vaccine, which is given by injection> under the skin. The body then produces antibodies to the virus over the> next two to four weeks. If the immunized person then comes into contact> with the influenza virus, the antibodies attack and kill the virus> before it has a chance to cause infection. The vaccine contains the 3> most likely strains to be active during the "flu season">> Why the shortage:> Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered this year.> Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, will not be distributing> any influenza vac! cine this flu season. Chiron was to make 46-48> million doses vaccine for the United States. Chiron is a British> company. Recently British health officials stopped Chiron from> distributing and making the vaccine when inspectors found unsanitary> conditions in the labs. Some lots of the vaccine were recalled and> destroyed.>> Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US?> The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost 90% of the> nations flu vaccine at one time. They did this despite a very low profit> margin for the product. Basically, they were doing us a favor. In the> late 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the vaccine got the> flu. The strain he caught was one of the strains in that years vaccine> made by a US company. What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awarded> almost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most US> pharmaceutical companies stopped making the vaccine. The liability out> w! eighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such> frivolous law suits UK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine> in the US.>> By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law> suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§ - PULSE ON WORLD HEALTH CONSPIRACIES! §Subscribe:......... - To :.... - Any information here in is for educational purpose only, it may be news related, purely speculation or someone's opinion. Always consult with a qualified health practitioner before deciding on any course of treatment, especially for serious or life-threatening illnesses.**COPYRIGHT NOTICE**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107,any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

[Guest guest]

I ran this story down and this is what I found. I'm not a Bush or

Kerry supporter .... but I am a truth supporter!

espie

 

Claim: The current flu vaccine shortage is attributable to a

lawsuit handled by Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards.

 

Status: False.

 

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2004]

 

Flu Shot Info /Interesting, read to end

 

How the vaccine works:

 

Influenza vaccine is produced by growing the virus in eggs. The virus

is killed and processed to create the vaccine, which is given by

injection under the skin. The body then produces antibodies to the

virus over the next two to four weeks. If the immunized person then

comes into contact with the influenza virus, the antibodies attack

and kill the virus before it has a chance to cause infection. The

vaccine contains the 3 most likely strains to be active during

the " flu season "

 

Why the shortage:

 

Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered this

year. Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, will not be

distributing any influenza vaccine this flu season. Chiron was to

make 46-48 million doses of vaccine for the United States. Chiron is

a British company. Recently British health officials stopped Chiron

from distributing and making the vaccine when inspectors found

unsanitary conditions in the labs. Some lots of the vaccine were

recalled and destroyed.

 

Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US?

 

The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost 90% of

the nations flu vaccine at one time. They did this despite a very low

profit margin for the product. Basically, they were doing us a favor.

In the late 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the

vaccine got the flu. The strain he caught was one of the strains in

that years vaccine made by a US company. What did he do? He sued and

he won. He was awarded almost $5 million! After that case was

appealed and the appeal was lost, most US pharmaceutical companies

stopped making the vaccine. The liability outweighed the profit

margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such frivolous law suits,

UK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine in the US.

 

By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law

suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.

 

Origins: Two major problems with this political screed, which

attempts to attribute a shortage of flu vaccine to a lawsuit handled

to Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, the Democratic Vice-

Presidential candidate:

Chiron, the corporation mentioned in this piece as an example of

a " British company " that has taken over the manufacture of flu

vaccine from American companies supposedly driven out of business by

liability lawsuits, is not a British company. It is an American

company headquartered in Emeryville, California, which last year

purchased British vaccine maker Powderject and a flu vaccine plant in

Liverpool, England.

 

American manufacturers did not produce flu vaccine until liability

lawsuits made it impossible for them to continue doing so. Most

American pharmaceutical companies got out of the flu vaccine market

because a variety of factors (not related to lawsuits) make it an

unattractive line of business:

 

 

Flu viruses mutate easily, so new flu vaccine formulas have to be

made up every year.

 

Because a different flu vaccine is used each season, unsold doses

cannot be saved and end up being destroyed (along with any potential

profits).

 

The production of flu vaccine (and the requirement of meeting Food

and Drug Administration standards) is a labor-intensive process. Flu

vaccine is made by injecting virus into fertilized chicken eggs —

each egg must be hand-inspected and hand-injected and produces only 4

or 5 doses of vaccine.

 

Because flu vaccine is a commodity (i.e., the same product can be

made by many different companies) and much of the available supply is

bought up in large orders by the government, the market price of

vaccine — and the profit to be made from selling it — has been quite

low. (The global market for vaccine is about $6 billion a year, while

the global market for drugs is about $340 billion a year. Which of

these two markets a pharmaceutical company should concentrate on is a

no-brainer.)

 

Sometime within the next several years, the flu vaccine industry will

switch to growing vaccine in cell cultures rather than eggs, a much

easier and cheaper process. No new entrant to the flu vaccine market

is going to spend several years and millions of dollars investing in

a process that will soon become obsolete.

A recent article in the Washington Post chronicled the travails of

Wyeth, one of many companies that has abandoned the flu vaccine

market in the last few years:

For two decades, Wyeth made injectable influenza vaccine at a plant

in Marietta, Pa. For the winter of 2002-03, it made 21 million doses

in a labor-intensive, time-crunched process and shipped them to

clinics and doctors' offices early in the fall.

 

But it turned out a lot fewer people wanted it. Flu vaccine can't be

saved from year to year. So, sometime the next spring Wyeth threw

away 7 million unsold doses, for a loss of $30 million. It then quit

making flu shots. It eventually closed the Marietta plant, which once

employed 800 people.

 

But Wyeth wasn't out of the flu vaccine business — yet.

 

It was a partner with the Maryland biotech company, MedImmune, in

making what they considered the flu shot of the future — a " live "

virus vaccine squirted up the nose. They made 5 million doses of

FluMist for last winter, the product's inaugural season. But FluMist

never found its market. Only 450,000 doses were sold; the rest were

thrown away.

 

Over three seasons, Wyeth lost $50 million from unsold flu vaccine.

It was also facing millions of dollars in required improvements to

keep its plant up to standards required by the Food and Drug

Administration.

 

Last April, Wyeth pulled out. It was done with flu vaccine.

 

Wyeth's decisions go a long way toward explaining why the United

States — the world's richest market for medical products — finds

itself with only half the amount of vaccine it needs to protect its

population against a disease that may contribute to more than 50,000

deaths this year.

 

The company's exit is part of a long, slow industry-wide flight away

from flu vaccine, which has simply become more trouble than it's

worth.

 

" It shouldn't be surprising to anybody, " said Gregory A. Poland,

director of the vaccine research group at the Mayo Clinic, in

Minnesota. " In fact, I marvel that there are companies willing to

stay in the business. "

Litigation against vaccine manufacturers (not over flu vaccine

specificially, but vaccines in general, particularly those that used

thimerosal as a preservative) did create some shortages prior to the

mid-1980s, but the passage of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury

Act of 1986 eliminated most of those lawsuits through the creation of

the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), a no-fault

compensation alternative to suing vaccine manufacturers and providers

for people injured or killed by vaccines. According to a 2003 report

by the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (part of the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services), " vaccine shortages do not

appear to be liability related " :

The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) enacted in the late

1980s has been of immense value in stabilizing the vaccine market.

Prior to its enactment, litigation led to national shortages,

withdrawal of manufacturers from the marketplace, and instability of

supply of essential childhood vaccines. The VICP was designed to

compensate individuals who suffered a serious adverse event as a

result of administration of a covered vaccine in a manner that was

rapid, simple, generous and appropriate. The VICP has assisted in

stimulating the availability of new vaccines since its inception in

1988. Despite the success of the program, criticism of the VICP could

lead to significant legislative changes, including a more relaxed

burden of proof standard for determining eligibility for

compensation. Today, litigation again threatens stability of the

vaccine program in the form of class action law suits, exemplified by

those that have been filed involving vaccines that contain

thimerosal. The VICP is currently understaffed to meet the new

increased numbers of claims. While current vaccine shortages do not

appear to be liability related, the VICP should be maintained and

strengthened as supported by scientific evidence, including

continuing expansion of VICP to include additional vaccines as they

are recommended for routine administration to children. The VICP

coverage of vaccines should recognize that " vaccine " includes the

active ingredient as well as preservatives, additives and other

excipients. Strengthening the VICP would benefit manufacturers,

providers and consumers and further safeguard the nation's vaccine

supply.

Regarding the claim that John Edwards secured a $5 million judgment

against a U.S. pharmacutical company on a flu vaccine case, while it

is true he had a highly successful legal career representing

individuals who had been badly harmed by malfunctioning products or

the mistakes of doctors and hospitals, with some even saying he won

$175 million for his clients over 12 years, at this point it's not

known if he ever litigated a flu vaccine case, or if so, what the

outcome of such a trial was.

 

 

, 121 <121@l...> wrote:

>

> > > Take the time to read this . . . it's very interesting.

> > >

> > >

> > > How Flu Vaccine works:

> > > Influenza vaccine is produced by growing the virus in eggs. The

virus is

> > > killed and processed to create the vaccine, which is given by

injection

> > > under the skin. The body then produces antibodies to the virus

over the

> > > next two to four weeks. If the immunized person then comes into

contact

> > > with the influenza virus, the antibodies attack and kill the

virus

> > > before it has a chance to cause infection. The vaccine contains

the 3

> > > most likely strains to be active during the " flu season "

> > >

> > > Why the shortage:

> > > Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered

this year.

> > > Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, will not be

distributing

> > > any influenza vac! cine this flu season. Chiron was to make 46-

48

> > > million doses vaccine for the United States. Chiron is a British

> > > company. Recently British health officials stopped Chiron from

> > > distributing and making the vaccine when inspectors found

unsanitary

> > > conditions in the labs. Some lots of the vaccine were recalled

and

> > > destroyed.

> > >

> > > Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US?

> > > The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost

90% of the

> > > nations flu vaccine at one time. They did this despite a very

low profit

> > > margin for the product. Basically, they were doing us a favor.

In the

> > > late 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the

vaccine got the

> > > flu. The strain he caught was one of the strains in that years

vaccine

> > > made by a US company. What did he do? He sued and he won. He

was awarded

> > > almost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most

US

> > > pharmaceutical companies stopped making the vaccine. The

liability out

> > > w! eighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws

prohibit such

> > > frivolous law suits UK and Canadian companies began selling the

vaccine

> > > in the US.

> > >

> > > By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu

shot law

> > > suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.