(November 1, 2005) President George Bush has outlined his administration’s strategy for preparing for and responding to an influenza pandemic in the United States. It includes $7.1 billion in spending on vaccines against the current strain of bird flu, stockpiling anti-viral drugs, vaccine development, and emergency response plans.
Dr. Neil Schachter, author of The Good Doctor’s Guide to Colds and Flu and Professor of Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Medical Director of the Respiratory Care Department, calls President Bush’s plan vague.
”The plan sounds like it covers a number of keys issues,” said Dr. Schachter, “taking the threat seriously, the need to stockpile vaccine, the need to change from egg-based to cell culture vaccine production. However the speech did not say how these factors were to be implemented.”
Other areas that Dr. Schachter points out where overlooked in President Bush’s speech include:
Treatment guidelines: Most diseases have established treatment protocols.
These need to be developed for Avian flu and distributed world wide.
The stock piling of Tamiflu: Most physicians in the US have never used
Tamiflu and don't know how. Patients are calling daily for a prescription
"just in case". But there are three ways and three dosages for
the drug.
Other necessary equipment: There was no mention that an epidemic could
tax our ability to provide health providers with enough ventilators and
oxygen tanks.
The Good Doctor’s Guide to Colds and Flu contains chapters describing what is wrong with our vaccine production program in the United States, as well as on Avian flu. There are no other books dealing with Avian flu on the market today.
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