Okay, what do you guys think about the flu vaccine shortage. Personally, I've never taken a flue shot, so it won't affect me. But, I think it's just flat out ridiculous that we only have one company producing a great majority of our flue vaccine supply in this country. If we had more companies producing the vaccine, one contaminated batch being thrown out wouldn't have made that big of a hit on the healthcare community. Bush's solution in the debate last night was for young and healthy people not to take the flu vaccine, leaving it for seniors and other people at risk. Kerry offered no solution.

As I've already pointed out, I have a better solution than all of them. But, as we know, part of the problem in allowing more people to enter the vaccine production field may be the high risk for litigation.

Any thoughts on this issue?
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"British first notified FDA of vaccine shortage Oct. 5


By Diedtra Henderson
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - British authorities on Wednesday confirmed the Food and Drug Administration's contention that the agency first learned Oct. 5 that Chiron Corp. would be barred from shipping half of America's flu vaccine supply.

In a statement released by the FDA, the head of the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said Chiron's plant was inspected from Sept. 28 to Sept. 30.

"Contrary to some reported statements, MHRA, as the responsible regulatory authority in the United Kingdom, made the decision to suspend Chiron's license after an internal meeting Oct. 4 and first informed the company and the FDA of this decision Oct. 5," said Kent Woods, MHRA's chief executive officer.

The FDA said Chiron also confirmed that it was told of the British decision Oct. 5.

Media accounts late last week suggested the FDA had been tipped off to intractable contamination problems at Chiron's Liverpool plant in mid-September.

The FDA on Monday denied the assertion it knew about impending problems affecting the bulk of the flu vaccine supply. The agency's inspectors, in Liverpool when the contamination concerns surfaced, returned.

The agency relied on weekly telephone calls with Chiron to track the problem. The agency has said repeatedly that it was stunned by an about-face that imperiled 48 million flu shots and prompted voluntary rationing.

The FDA and the British agency said they were cooperating in addressing the problems at the plant. The FDA's acting commissioner, Lester Crawford, said that was "a significant positive step."