Obama Flu Preparedness Summit Calls for Tiddly Winks Contingency Plans: "Communication," Not Infrastructure

July 10, 2009 (LPAC)—An "H1N1 Influenza Preparedness Summit" was staged today for 500 state and local officials, by the Health and Human Services Department, addressed by three Cabinet Secretaries, and by Obama himself, by telephone from Italy. Completely locked out of the formal agenda was the fact that state and local public health departments and hospitals are reeling from the crash, state budget collapse, and from being barely able to handle routine demands, and the so-called "mild" outbreak of the Novel H1N1 influenza to date.

Instead, there was nanny-talk from White House officials, admonishing everyone to work together and "communicate." Obama said, "We want to make sure we are not promoting panic, but we are promoting vigilance and preparation...." He called for a "public communication campaign dealing with schools with significant outbreaks of H1N1...."

Flu Ad Contest

HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius, in her opening remarks, said that there are at least 1 million A/H1N1 cases in the U.S., the Fall outbreak may be severe, schools open within 6-8 weeks, and hospitals need to prepare for a surge. But then she presented a three-point plan, on the level of, "Be sure to wash your hands." Points 2 and 3: She will upgrade the special website of the HHS, www.flu.gov, to make it easy for agencies and citizens to find out what to do; and thirdly, she announced a public contest to create the best 60-second public service announcement to warn everyone how to personally deal with the flu—"Create a Flu Video and Be Eligible to Win $2,500"! She also urged officials to go back home and hold local flu summits to "communicate" to their communities.

By comparison, Sebelius's Point One was nominally and relatively serious, but still pathetic. Tomorrow the HHS is making available "preparedness grants" to states, localities and hospitals. The total amounts are paltry: $260 million to state health departments; and $60 to 90 million [she cited both figures] to hospitals to prepare for surge demand. This funding was approved in recent Congressional supplemental bills. How is it to be allocated? NOT by epidemiologists targetting where best to upgrade medical capabilities. Instead, states and hospitals are to compete for grants, by emailing their requests to www.grants.gov by July 24, and those approved will get their money expedited on July 31.

In fact, if the Federal funds to hospitals, for example, were to be shared equitably across all 56 states and territories, each hospital in Illinois would get a whopping $5,000 to prepare for a flu surge!

An Illinois Summit participant broke through the playpen atmosphere of the event, by describing the overstretched conditions already present in his state. "My staff [are] at the edge of being burned out" already, said the Illinois National Guard Surgeon, Co. Damon Arnold, M.D., M.P.H., who is the state's Director of Public Health. He called for "more staff, laptops, laboratories" and supplies. He recounted their excellent response to the arrival of A/H1N1, including supplying, in a 16-hour period, anti-viral medications to 102 counties, 95 local health departments and 356 hospitals this past Spring. He is now especially worried about migrant farm laborers, bringing in infection, and being susceptible to infection.

Vaccination Program

The specifics given on the program for vaccinations are that 1) 100 million doses of annual, seasonal flu vaccine are to be available in early Fall. 2) On July 26, the National Institutes of Health will review the clinical trial results for a vaccine for the Novel H1N1. Then, in early August, a decision is to be made for mobilizing production of some number of mass doses of it for the U.S., according to Anthony Fauci, Director for Infectious Diseases of the NIH. Sebelius announced that $1 billion is set to cover vaccination expenses. The program is done in conjunction with the cartel companies, Sanofi-Pasteur; Novartis AG; Baxter Interanational Inc.; GlaxoKline Smith (U.K.); and Solvay.

In contrast, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO.org) report that $15 billion is required for a full U.S. A/H1N1 vaccination program (including 2 doses per person).