GOP Would Rather Protect the Drug Companies Than Support the Troops
(NY Times) Companies making vaccines to protect against biological agents or pandemic viruses would be shielded from lawsuits, even if they are negligent or reckless, under a provision inserted into a military spending bill by Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader.
[...]
But critics, like Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the language was more far-reaching than Mr. Frist had described.
"The Republican leadership in Congress cut a back room deal to give a massive Christmas bonus to the drug companies," Mr. Kennedy said in a statement.
In an interview, Mr. Kennedy said he would try to strip the language from the bill, arguing that it was not relevant to the military measure.
The immunity provision has already been approved by the House, which voted early Monday to pass the military spending measure.
- Ted Kahl's blog
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I think the best way to
I think the best way to solve this is to make ALL Senators and their families have these vaccinations first. When there was a flu virus shortage, they made sure they got theirs because they meet with lots of people and didn't want to spread or get the flu. I would assume they would need the greatest protection from the Avian Flu. Give it to them first then they will start worrying about the safety of these drugs.
"They want the federal government controlling Social Security
like it's some kind of federal program."
- George W. Bush in a debate in St. Charles, Mo., Nov. 2, 2000
How interesting
Now the major drug companies could get into the vaccine making business without fear of any product liability. I would have thought that the drug companies would have been happy with the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan which allows the companies to be paid full, not-negotiated prices for their drugs. No. How stupid of me? Money begets the need for more money. The stockholders demand it and the CEO's need to buy about five more apartments in Manhatten and would like to own the Mona Lisa. It's really tragic that now they are more interested in the vaccine of the month when last year no one wanted to make vaccines in the US and we had a shortage. Fortunately for the Feds and the people who needed but didn't get vaccinated, last year was not a big flu season so that the situation did not make the papers after about the first month. Unfortunately for us, it gave the Repugs and the drug companies a new way to make money and remove liability. I think that Mr.Dr. Frist is an excellent test case for the first new vaccine brews. After all, when you have to deal with your brokers all of the time to trade your stocks, you are definitely in a high risk group and need to be first in line. The link between corporate greed and laws proposed by Republicans is really amazing. Meanwhile, the Religious Right will have to pick out which vaccine is morally acceptable since, as we know, they think that cervical cancer is God's punishment on women who engege in early sexual activity. The HPV vaccine which has been developed and tested out well in studies was on their mortal sin list. It's amazing how dirty and ugly this world has become since George entered the White House. I am sure that he and his buddies would have found a way to market the good deeds of Mother Teresa to make money for themselves if she were still alive.