Swine Flu Fiasco

The U.S. Government is desperately trying to pass universal healthcare legislation. Nearly all Americans believe healthcare costs are outrageous and that something needs to be done. So one would think that the federal government would capitalize on this disaffection by using its swine-flu vaccine distribution program as a showcase to prove it can facilitate healthcare services.

Well, if that was their intention then they failed miserably from a public relations standpoint.

On Friday the Associated Press reported that “some of New York's biggest companies, including Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, received doses of swine flu vaccine for at-risk employees, drawing criticism that the hard-to-find vaccine is going first to the privileged.” (Wall Street Gets First Crack at Vaccine!- Click Here) Despite President Obama’s declaration that the swine-flu is a national emergency, reports abound of widespread vaccine shortages for those deemed by the CDC to be at greatest risk, children and young adults up to age 24. How’s that for a PR mess? White collar workers from hated multi-national corporations receive the vaccine, but your average inner city or middle-America citizen is left high-and- dry. Regardless of the accuracy of this class warfare view, this is the perception of many people. At a family party I attended yesterday the general response to the U.S. Government and its role in the Wall Street/swine-flu vaccine debacle was, “And these are the people who want to run our healthcare system?”

Sadly, yes.