Please Don't Rush Vaccine Decision

I don't pretend to be a scientist, but I am a thinker, and I think the Obama administration is in way too much of a hurry to declare A-H1N1 as Public Enemy No.1.

A report in the Wall Street Journal today details in the tough decision the Obamatons face in deciding whether to mass produce a vaccine for the Mexican swine flu.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is weeks away from a critical decision on whether to trigger mass production of swine-flu vaccine, which could affect the bottom lines of big vaccine makers as well as public health.

Besides determining whether a vaccine would be effective and safe, government officials and private laboratories will need to answer practical and financial questions: Does it make sense to order hundreds of millions of doses and organize a mass vaccination campaign for a virus that, so far, isn't widespread and doesn't seem particularly lethal?

Of 642 confirmed cases, and perhaps another 850 probable cases, there have been two deaths. Do you spend billions of dollars and interfere with the regular production of season flu vaccine, which you can count on to kill 500,000 a year world wide?

If swine-flu vaccine were manufactured in large quantities, officials would want it to be ready by fall, when flu season begins. Officials said they want test results on a potential vaccine before deciding whether it's needed. Another factor to be considered: The new flu strain, while it has caused few U.S. deaths so far, could come back in a more virulent form in the fall.

If that happened, the new vaccine might be next to worthless. Without sufficient testing, you might have a repeat of 1976, when a hastily concocted Swine Flu vaccine -- developed for an outbreak that killed just one person world-wide -- was administered to the American public and caused serious, permanent neurological damage in several who received it.

Slow down, O ye do-good'ers in Washington!

(By the way, I'll be taking my chances with increased doses of Vitamin D, healthy eating, and trust in God, regardless of Mr. Obama's decision.)