Day: July 14, 2009

Pandemic Watch: Be Glad You Live in a First-World Country

Buck Banks

Well, maybe “glad” is a little too strong in this case. Looks like there’s not going to be enough H1N1 influenza vaccine to go around, at least not in poorer and developing nations. There are problems with the process of making the vaccine to fight the novel strain of flu, and it appears manufacturers are only getting yields of about half what they get from the manufacture of seasonal flu vaccines. Since most vaccines are manufactured in First World nations, their orders will be filled first, according to the World Health Organization.

From The Canadian Press, Sunday, July 12, via ProMed:

Swine flu vaccine production has hit a snag, with manufacturers reporting a disappointingly low yield when vaccines viruses are grown in eggs. The World Health Organization [WHO] says so far the yield for egg-based production is half or less than what manufacturers get when they make vaccine to protect against seasonal H1N1 viruses. The lion’s share of influenza vaccine is made by companies that grow the viruses in eggs.

New seed strains are being made in the hopes of increasing the vaccine yield, a report by the WHO’s vaccine chief, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, says. But if the yield cannot be increased, it will slow the rate at which pandemic vaccine comes out of the production pipeline, adding to the time it takes to protect populations in countries like Canada that have purchased vaccine. And countries that haven’t preordered pandemic vaccine would face substantial delays before manufacturers have product to sell to them.

“There’s nothing to suggest it will take longer to make vaccine, if in fact everything goes as planned. The question is: How much?” says Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “There is nothing magical about making this virus. The questions will be: How much? When? and Where will it be available?”

The yield problem is revealed in presentations WHO staff made to last week’s special meeting of the expert panel that advises the Geneva-based global health agency on vaccine issues. The body — called the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization, or SAGE — was convened to give WHO counsel on a variety of questions about pandemic vaccine use. Those include which groups should be given priority when vaccine becomes available and whether the WHO should recommend companies use adjuvants, which are boosting compounds that could help stretch limited supplies.

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Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The clearance and vetting process is a nightmare, and it takes far longer than any of us would want to see. It is frustrating beyond words. I mean, it is ridiculous. Some very good people just didn’t want to be vetted.

— Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, quoted in the Washington Times.

GOP Chose Neo-Confederate Senator to Lead Bogus Charge of Racism against Sotomayor

Jon Ponder

It is no accident that Senate Republicans chose Jeff Sessions of Alabama as ranking member on the Judiciary Committee in advance of hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Sessions was chosen to lead the prosecution of Sotomayor on the charge that she is a racist — a non-starter for regular Americans but may help with fundraising among the GOP’s neo-Confederate base — because of Session’s own record of racism, which led to his losing a nomination before the same committee in 1986.

Sessions was serving as chief prosecutor for the Southern District of Alabama and making a name for himself through his prosecution of drug dealers when President Reagan nominated him to be a federal judge. But according to sworn statements by Justice Department lawyers, Sessions called the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union “communist-inspired” and said they tried to “force civil rights down the throats of people.” Sessions reportedly said of the Ku Klux Klan that he “used to think they’re okay” until he learned that some Klan members were “pot smokers.” Sessions said his words were in jest or had been misrepresented.

Because of these comments, the Judiciary Committee voted 9-9 against sending his nomination to the full Senate for a vote. It was only the second time in 48 years that a judge nominee had been voted out.

How right-wing is Sen. Sessions? In October 2005, he was one of nine senators to vote against an amendment to outlaw torture.

Ralph Reed Returns ‘Like Steve Jobs’ With ‘Younger, Hipper’ GOP Christianist Group

Jon Ponder

GOP operative Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition, a Clinton-era political group that lost its tax-exempt status for publishing Republican-only voter guides for distribution in churches, is staging a comeback. He has launched a new group he is calling the Faith and Freedom Coalition:

“Even though I’ve been doing other things, this is kind of like Steve Jobs returning to Apple,” Reed said.

“This is not going to be your daddy’s Christian Coalition,” Reed said… “It has to be younger, hipper, less strident, more inclusive and it has to harness the 21st century that will enable us to win in the future.”

And: “Even though I’ve been doing other things, this is kind of like Steve Jobs returning to Apple,” Reed said.

By “other things,” Reed means resigning in disgrace from the first Christian Coalition, staving off charges of receiving millions of dollars that convicted GOP lobbyist/con man Jack Abramoff bilked from Native Americans and failing in his bid to win the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor of Georgia. More about all that to follow.

What’s new, young and hip about Reed’s Christianist 2.0 organization? It will use the Internet, not a printing press, to spread its moralizing propaganda:

Attracting younger voters and activists, Reed knows, takes a robust Web-based campaign that uses the new gadgets and social networks that dominate young people’s lives.

(Notice how the group’s younger, hipper website has a look and feel similar to the Obama campaign’s.)

Reed faces at least four daunting hurdles:

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