So, did the drugs companies screw us over?

[Steve]

"With swine flu fading in the UK (projected winter deaths of 65,000 have been downgraded to 1,000, and new cases are decreasing) the UK government has been left with millions of unused vaccines, and (unlike its contract with Baxter) no clear break-clause to get out of its contract with GlaxoSmithKlein. Although the amount paid for vaccines has not been disclosed, it likely cost the UK government several hundred million pounds. Other governments are also in a similar position: the US ordered 251 million doses of the vaccine, and France and Germany are aiming to cut back on their orders considerably. To say that the case for the pandemic has been over-estimated appears to be an understatement. Now, the WHO has announced that it is to investigate whether or not it bowed to pressure from drugs companies to overplay the threat."

http://science.slashdot.org/story/10...ders?art_pos=2

I certainly haven't overreacted to the swine flu threat - seems I can let the government and media do all that for me.

[Mossy]

I have not I mean it would be interesting how many people got issued the vaccine and all they had was a common cold. To this day I still think it was an excuse for people to have time of work.

The government are too soft, in some countries they would simply tell them they are not wanted or send them back and the companies would not question.

[Russ]

Wouldnt be surprised if this was the case, but can you blame them, we live in a world where supply and demand is the standard for every company, i know if i had a vaccine for a global flu/infection i wouldnt distibute it at a loss

[Salazaar]

If a vaccine is a preventative measure rather than a cure and is therefore issued to those at risk rather than those effected, how exactly does this situation arise?

Did governments just massively over stockpile? And if so why, surely it's fairly easy to work out how many people are at risk?

Is the fact that there was no pandemic a sign that the programme of vaccination actually worked and we should be happy with the cost because the alternative could have been far worse?

[menthel]

Vaccines, probably not. The anti viral drugs I would say yes. They really don't do anything great and almost certainly did not save anyones life. As for a drug company making profits from distributing drugs- of course they did. However if they have been found influencing the governments decisions then they could be in for quite a lot of trouble.

[0iD]

Same as all the other pandemics that didn't happen, like SARS & BirdFlu only on a much grander scale.

[jim]

If a vaccine is a preventative measure rather than a cure and is therefore issued to those at risk rather than those effected, how exactly does this situation arise?

Did governments just massively over stockpile? And if so why, surely it's fairly easy to work out how many people are at risk?

Is the fact that there was no pandemic a sign that the programme of vaccination actually worked and we should be happy with the cost because the alternative could have been far worse?

I think that the vaccine was probably over-ordered because by the time it arrived, the panic had passed and nobody was that fussed any more. If it had been available on day one, I'll bet you people would've been queuing outside the doors of the GPs' surgery to avoid certain death.

I was on some kind of priority list for the jab but didn't go... I'm 95% sure I've already had swine flu, and even if I hadn't had it I don't think I'd be that bothered. As far as I'm concerned, it's just flu - big deal. I don't get a normal flu jab. Talking to other people, I think that goes for a fairly large proportion - the panic has been and gone.

[kalniel]

Er.. weren't all the tabloids complaining at the time that we didn't have enough stockpiled? Now when we do have a stockpile people complain again. Bit like the roadsalt situation I bet.

[scaryjim]

If it is genuinely *vaccines* we've been left with a huge excess of then something is very amiss. That would suggest that the vast majority of people who should have been vaccinated didn't come forward. In turn, that should have meant millions of people at risk, unvaccinated, being exposed to the virus, which should have lead to millions of seriously ill people.

Now, I do know a few people who were confirmed with swine flu: but just about everyone I know had a serious form of flu at some point over the last 12 months. Most of them, however, just curled up in bed for a few days with lemsip and got over the worst of the symptoms - all except a nasty hacking cough, which lasted about 2 months for me, longer for others. So I suspect the number of infections was actually huge, and the lack of uptake on vaccination will have been part of that.

However, it seems to me that the severity of the symptoms was massively overstated, particularly in relation to modern "western" society. In the UK pretty much everyone has access to strong, over-the-counter mdeicines that can suppress or combat the majority of flu symptoms, so while there's no doubt the flu I had was one of the worst flu infections I've ever had, in real terms it didn't pose any threat. I'd be much more interested to know what the level of vaccine uptake was in the developing world, as that's where I think a vaccination program would have made a real difference to the spread and severity of infections...

[TooNice]

To be honest, I'd say better safe than sorry. I know a few people who contracted swine flu, and one ended up having to drop out of his study because of it.

I used to have a pretty big ego when it comes to my immune system. For many years (about a decade), I simply never caught anything. And I am including common cold. Massive flu epidemic can take place causing 3/4 of my class in bed, I used to be pissed off because I was always in the 1/4 who ended up having to go to class (sometime with no teachers around). Then that changed in the last few years where I would catch something once a year.

And in 2009 (one of the most stressful year of my life), I ended up not only catching a cold some time along the way, but also contracting pneumonia. That was not something anything over the counter was going to fix, though it did not stop the hospital sending me home without conducting any tests (even though I was referred there for some relevant tests) despite a 40.5C fever because they just thought I just had a common flu, and asked me to take some of the over the counter medication I've been taking for a good couple of days already. Needless to say, it got worse, and eventually they had to take me in (fever close to 42C by then) though it didn't stop them trying to discharge me earlier than I was ready. And even after I was discharged, I was so weak that I initially couldn't walk far without going out of breath. The whole thing took about 2 months to clear. So when they offered me both the swine flu and regular flu jab prior my travel abroad, I decided to go for it. I rather suspect that pneumonia is still at a different level than swine flu, but at that point I couldn't bear with the idea of having to stay in bed to recover for any reason.

[Lucio]

When you're predicting the future like this, mistakes are bound to happen, especially when you have the media involved in the case.

[[GSV]Trig]

Hmmm, a recession kicks in and suddenly theres an outbreak of some killer bug thats got lots of symptoms that are the same as the normal winter flu, the media bandwagon goes off on one and suddenly the drug manufacturers aren't so bothered about the recession..

Nothing sells like fear...

[Tumble]

thing is, it's likely not the actual piggy flu that gets you - it's the secondary infection that grabs you when you're recovering and weakened. How many folk died of things like chronic pneumonia this winter, who in the run up to being hospitalised, felt a bit under the weather, with a bit of a cough?

All you need to do really is sit it out in bed, try not to infect anyone else and let it get on with it. There's nowt that can actually get rid of it until it's gone anyway!

[Saracen]

.....

I was on some kind of priority list for the jab but didn't go.....

Ditto. Both the wife and myself are on the priority list and had the "Come get it" letter from the GP ages ago. But, as I said in a thread on here ages ago, I'm not convinced by the vaccine and not going to have it. I didn't either, and neither did the wife.

What we don't, and never will, know of course, is how many people got Swine flu, compared to how many got some other form of flu, or just a cold, or even how many of those could have had vaccines and didn't, and whether it would have made any difference at all if they had.

As it turns out, at least so far, this has all been a considerable anti-climax, but that's using the benefit of wonderful 20:20 hindsight. It could have turned out very differently. Had government assumed this would be a whimper rather than an explosion, and been wrong, we'd all be screaming about how they should have acted earlier and failed us. They can't know for sure, months in advance when the research has to start and the order get placed, that it would (so far) prove to be largely unnecessary. Damned if they do, and damned if they don't?

[0iD]

I was advised to get it as I was on the @increased risk list, however with all the cases of Guillain-Barré Paralysis in the US & Eastern Europe especially I was more than skeptical. There were just not sufficient clinical trials for my liking.

[razer121]

the answer (IMHO) to the title is "yes" damn right lol well all the "idiots" who belive everything thats told to them....i rarely watch tv and there is a reason! the adverts drive me nuts, its all about selling you something and my god it annoys me and as for the papers...well i would happiliy b1tch slap every single last staff member there is......the media twist so much and its so stupid that people belive it! i mean honestly if it was that bad alot more would have been done...i was told to have that stupid vac....like help i was ill for about 2 weeks with all the flu like symptoms....am i dead??? erm no cos its a damn flu you would have to be plain stupid if you honestly belived what the media said about it...think of it like this,
how many OLD AGE and YOUNG kids die of flu?? wow loads but does the media tell you that? nope....but "swine flu" on the other hand has killed loads....well tbh its props killed less then the other flus....just do you research lol