Medicine Shortages

[Possibilities]

Something that might indicate a vastly increased response to pandemic flu. Here is a list of current shortages of drug supplies. Something to consider as a red flag:
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/shortages/#Current

 

[Farmer]

Re: Medicine Shortages

Something that might indicate a vastly increased response to pandemic flu. Here is a list of current shortages of drug supplies. Something to consider as a red flag:
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/shortages/#Current

I don't see the 'red flag' or connection to a pandemic. There appears to be a system for reporting drug shortages to FDA suggesting that this is an ongoing problem.

The current drug shortages listed with the reason of 'increased demand' are a chelating agent, some drugs to treat high blood pressure and heart problems, a cancer/ RA treatment, etc. Some of these reports predate the publicity about the outbreak...

 

[Possibilities]

Re: Medicine Shortages

Yes to all of what you wrote.

But imagine looking through this list, and then noting certain drugs being in short supply. This could be yet again another way that we would see evidence of the flu causing shortages.

 

[Farmer]

Re: Medicine Shortages

Oh, I see. Yes, it may be interesting to follow it as events unfold.

 

[Possibilities]

Re: Medicine Shortages

Farmer,

I'll tell you why I think the things are a bit more bad then they really are. When I talk to people in levels of authority about pandemic flu, while they cannot deny the possibility of things getting bad, they almost always say, "Look, it can't be as serious as you say. The government would surely warn us. The media would surely tell us. Come on!"

WHO is backpedaling on declaring the level of the pandemic, fiddling with the definitions. State public health departments(Like Georgia) are starting to not test for the number of patients with the disease. FEMA isn't telling people to quit fooling around and have at least the bare minimum in essential supplies. Our President hasn't said, "Look be prudent and have take a care about preparing." All our leaders are worried about economic recovery, and no one wants to do anything which might cause a further downturn in the economy, right?

At the same time, Europe has been aggressively using Tamiflu to combat the spread of infection. Mexico shuts down the entire country for five days. China gets draconian about tracking down possibly exposed people. New Zealand and Australia tell their people to stock up. Hmmm.

Yesterday I read two forum entries that concerned me. One is that Canadian hospital workers who got infected and may have exposed others. The other is the Oklahoma government is telling folks to store not two weeks but three months of preparations. That later may simply be rumor. I'll try to track down that latter one.

Each day, we're sifting through the articles and forum postings looking for clues and information. The official US word may hardly give us ample warning as to the seriousness of the true nature of the disease. Leaders must speak based upon political exigencies. They want to keep their job, and while being prophetic is good, no one wants to be Chicken Little.

There are certain supplies that must be needed in order to ramp up and deal with the pandemic. There also by default must be certain shortages that must occur as demand exceeds supply: gloves, masks, disinfectants, and drugs. The FDA link would be a way that medical personnel might see the pandemic unfolding in a quiet way. That's all I am pointing out.

Edited:
Here is the link which came from Idaho (sorry) not Oklahoma.:
http://www.latah.id.us/disasterservices/Disaster_Pandemic_04.pdf