Swine Flu Is Coming, Swine Flu Is Coming

I keep my distance from both

Today's NY Times confirms what I suspected: "Swine flu is spreading rapidly, but the virus appears no more virulent than a seasonal flu virus. If current trends continue, it will kill or hospitalize fewer people than would be harmed in a normal flu season." My holistic doctor told me not to take the shot because it has dangerous mercury levels and doesn't significantly decrease the likelihood of catching it and it doesn't make the symptoms significantly less virulent. My "normal doctor" recommends it and said he's taking it himself; he was told to by whoever he listens to, although he offered me no scientific reason for getting one. Now, had the Republicans been in charge I wouldn't have even had to make a decision since there would have been no flu shots available.

The declaration last week that the epidemic is a kind of national emergency reminds me of a vote taken on June 16, when the House passed a supplemental appropriations bill with $2 billion for "pandemic flu preparedness and response capacity." Only 5 Republicans joined the Democrats, passing it 226-202. They don't believe that this kind of thing is within the provenance of government. In fact, their ritual obstructionism is harming flu season preparedness in another way as well. They are blocking the confirmation of Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General. Of course, they are blocking all kinds of Obama nominations, especially in the Judiciary and the Justice Department. But Benjamin was already unanimously approved, on October 7, by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. So what's the problem?

A GOP stall on all Health and Human Services nominees has left the department without a surgeon general during a period of a global flu pandemic, prompting the HHS secretary to call for Senate action.

Regina Benjamin, the surgeon general nominee, “is ready to be voted on in the Senate, and we would just strongly urge the United States Senate” to act, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said during an MSNBC interview Friday in which she discussed the department's response to the spread of the H1N1 virus.

President Barack Obama on Saturday declared the H1N1 outbreak a national emergency.

“We are facing a major pandemic, we have a well-qualified candidate for surgeon general, she’s been through the committee process. We just need a vote in the Senate,” Sebeilus said. “Please give us a surgeon general.”

Benjamin was unanimously approved by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Oct. 7, but Senate Republicans are holding up all HHS nominees over a so-called gag order on insurance companies that have been critical of Democratic efforts to reform health care.

“We’ve not received any recent calls from the administration about their nominee,” a senior Republican aide said. “There won’t be any time agreements for confirmation of HHS nominees until their actions have been fully reviewed.”

At issue is an investigation of insurance companies by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the HHS, which announced the probe last month after a letter surfaced from Humana to seniors critical of the Senate Finance Committee’s health care bill.

CMS officials charged that the letter contained misleading information, a claim Republicans have disputed.

“We believe this hold is irresponsible,” a HELP Committee aide said. “Everyone agrees Regina Benjamin is abundantly qualified and clearly needed to fill this position.”
Benjamin is the only HHS nominee on the executive calendar awaiting Senate confirmation.

More Beltway game-playing by the Republicans that put people's health and safety in jeopardy for their narrow partisan bullshit.