Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, 2001, federal and state governments have been preparing for biological attacks and pandemic influenza.
Based on the response to the H1N1 pandemic, those preparations have fallen flat.
State and federal health officials have done well in educating the public about the potential risks involved in the novel swine flu strain spreading across the world. Since April, when the virus appeared, they’ve made people aware of the symptoms, of ways to reduce the spread of the virus and have driven home the need for vaccination, particularly among high-risk groups.
Which makes it particularly distressing that they’ve been unable to distribute the vaccine people are now seeking.
Officials had hoped to distribute 120 million doses in October, but the number will be only a fourth of that by month’s end. Health agencies, including in the Mankato region, have been forced to cancel mass immunization programs.
The lack of vaccine comes as the H1N1 flu is spreading rapidly. Fortunately, the virus has, so far, not been as serious or deadly as many had feared. That bit of luck doesn’t excuse the poor response, and the virus could still mutate into something more sinister.
The H1N1 vaccine problems also have caused shortages of the seasonal flu vaccine, just as we head into the months the seasonal flu generally hits hardest.
The government has for years planned to switch from the egg-based vaccines now used to those using cell technology, a change that would drastically cut production time. But that transition has lagged and mass production is still years off.
The poor federal response has left local health officials to do the best they can. In this area, Immanuel St. Joseph’s — Mayo Health, the Mankato Clinic and county health agencies have cooperated well to do the best they can with the vaccine they can get. They’ve kept the public well informed and targeted the doses they do get to those at highest risk.
The lackluster federal response to the H1N1 pandemic should be a wake-up call to Congress. Considering the current response, the public has no reason to feel confident the government could quickly respond to a serious pandemic or biological threat.
