I don’t know about the rest of you, but this flu vaccine crisis is really fucking up my life at the moment. My department coordinates the flu clinics for seniors our hospital offera all around the area, and of course no one knows what to do yet. But tempers are fraying and voices are raising, and it’s not a pleasant scene. We just sent out notices of our flu clinic dates and times about a month ago – so there are probably hundreds of calendars and flyers hung up all around the county. Our hospital made the right choices this year. We picked the right vendor and ordered early, we already have our uncontaminated supply in hand. But now we can’t use it.
Why? Basically management paralysis – no one seems to have any understanding of the hospital’s legal rights regarding the ownership of the vaccine. I’m not sure why, as I’ve seen some of the PO’s used to order it, and we certainly paid for it. But the head pharmacist is for the moment refusing to dispense it because the remaining supply may be recalled and reallocated. That seems very farfetched to me – how much more vaccine would be ruined in such a massive reshuffle? More likely the three big hospitals in town will sit down and reallocate among themselves, IMHO.
I’ve had two days now of steady phone calls from old folks asking about our clinics, which are scheduled to start next Wednesday, and I can’t tell them anything.
Someone one asked the precise same question on some talk radio show yesterday to an FDA official. IIRC the answer was that Chiron is licensed by the FDA/US Government to produce this product for US import and use.
We are not talking about “Canadian” drugs. We are talking about FDA-approved, U.S.-made drugs being re-imported back to the U.S. after they’ve been exported to Canada, to be sold at a much cheaper price than we’re allowed to buy them on this side of the border before exportation. Pretty convoluted and stupid if you ask me.
Sorry about your flu vaccine woes, Boyo Jim. Hope it gets cleared up soon.
I’m confused. Canadian drugs are bad mkay, because those evil terrorists are going to poison us, but drugs from other countries such as Britain are OK? While realizing not all drugs in Canada were manufactured in the US, why would something made here with FDA approval become unapproved because it went up there and came right back down here? Are those evil Canadians ripping all the safety caps and sticky things off the bottles? Sorry, I think it has more to do with lobbyists, campaign money, and other shady backroom dealing than anything else. Besides, the Canadians bombed the Baldwins, so what’s not to like?
Because in most cases there is no assurance that the drugs were made here. The drug’s originaly manufacturer can reimport the drug if he wants to. What we are talking about are dugs that are repacked, relabled, and shipped back here. They might be expired, they might be intermingled with Canadian made versions. We don’t know because these facilities are not subject to FDA inspections. The British vaccine manufacturer was inspected by the FDA.
Please, can we leave the Canadian drug bit out of the flu vaccine problem.
Just understand that the safety of Canadian drugs was merely a red herring thrown up by the Bush Administration to find more widespread support for blocking the importation, or re-importation of Canadian drugs as the case may be. Although certainly there are drugs in Canada that aren’t safe due to tampering, forgery, etc., the proportion is likely just as high if not higher among American drugs.
Anyone recall those dilluted, forged, or just plain saline chemotherapy or anti-Cancer drugs from a few years ago? And it was done by just a run-of-the-mill pharmacist who was born and raised in the United States that just happened to be facing personal bankruptcy.
In the 50s and 60s, thalidomide was manufactured in Germany. It was approved for sale in many countries including England and Canada, but never the US (thanks largely to one woman, the FDA’s Dr. Frances Kelsey).
So you could have bought it in Canada, but not the US.
Are you referring to its new, heavily supervised uses, or is this a whoosh?
Excuse me, but the FDA decided to check on “Canadian drugs” by answering SPAM?! Do tell, did the morons pick up a bunch of Nigerian stock tips at the same fucking time?
Shit, if you’re relying on spam instead of something legitimate (which is pretty damn easy to check out) you’re a tool.
And if the only thing stopping the FDA from letting ‘canadian’ drugs into the U.S. is inspections, well then fucking ASK to see the facilities.
Or maybe the US could take a bold, socialist move and NEGOTIATE WITH DRUG COMPANIES LIKE EVERY OTHER FUCKING CIVILIZED PLACE IN THE WORLD!
This is where a lot of people are getting their “Canadian generic” drugs from. If the FDA’s job is to protect the public health, shouldn’t we be looking where the greatest risk is to the greatest number of people?
Why should the facilities say yes, especially when they have no problem selling the unregulated stuff over the internet? Inspections means that they’ll have to come into complience if they are deficient, and that costs money and that means fewer profits.
Because drug companies have a lot of lobbying power and negotiated lower prices means fewer profits for them. So, they make sure that bills that might result in anything like price controls never make their way through Congress.
Or, I should say, drug companies don’t “make sure” negotiated prices do not make their way through Congress, but rather lobby very, very hard against such bills. And to date they have been very successful.