MHSC
Senior Moderator
State Considers Buying Flu Vaccine
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=83033
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ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia is reserving the right to buy anti-flu medication for almost one million people to protect against a pandemic. But only if the state finds money to pay the $13.5 million price tag.
The final decision on whether or not to purchase the extra doses of Tamiflu will be made in the spring as part of state budget negotiations. Gov. Sonny Perdue has not decided yet whether to seek the funding as part of his budget request for the next fiscal year, spokeswoman Heather Hedrick said Monday.
As part of its pandemic preparations, the federal government is stockpiling Tamiflu and other anti-flu drugs, designed to ease the symptoms associated with influenza.
The Bush administration has set aside enough medication to treat 44 million across the nation. Those doses are divvied up by state based on population. Under the formula, Georgia - with a population of about 8.7 million - has been allotted treatment for 1.3 million people.
But states were also given the option to purchase more medication at a discounted price. The federal government has agreed to pay one-quarter of the costs for up to a prescribed amount for each state and negotiated a reduced price for the states through Roche Laboratories, which makes Tamiflu. Georgia is being permitted to purchase treatment for an additional 910,968 people. The states were given an Aug. 1 deadline to signal whether they wanted additional doses.
In a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Georgia officials said they intended to purchase the full 910,968 doses being made available.
"The belief is better safe than sorry," said Michelle Hennessey spokeswoman for Georgia's Department of Human Resources.
But the letter does not lock them into the purchase until the spring of 2007 when the antivirals will be available.
There have been three influenza pandemics in the United States in the last century. New fears revolve around a virus in birds, which could mutate and spread from human to human. There has not been an outbreak of avian influenza in the United States, although 131 people have died from the infection worldwide.
Tamiflu is regarded as the best initial defense against a pandemic resulting from a possible mutation of the deadly bird flu virus into a strain that could pass from human to human.
(Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=83033
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ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia is reserving the right to buy anti-flu medication for almost one million people to protect against a pandemic. But only if the state finds money to pay the $13.5 million price tag.
The final decision on whether or not to purchase the extra doses of Tamiflu will be made in the spring as part of state budget negotiations. Gov. Sonny Perdue has not decided yet whether to seek the funding as part of his budget request for the next fiscal year, spokeswoman Heather Hedrick said Monday.
As part of its pandemic preparations, the federal government is stockpiling Tamiflu and other anti-flu drugs, designed to ease the symptoms associated with influenza.
The Bush administration has set aside enough medication to treat 44 million across the nation. Those doses are divvied up by state based on population. Under the formula, Georgia - with a population of about 8.7 million - has been allotted treatment for 1.3 million people.
But states were also given the option to purchase more medication at a discounted price. The federal government has agreed to pay one-quarter of the costs for up to a prescribed amount for each state and negotiated a reduced price for the states through Roche Laboratories, which makes Tamiflu. Georgia is being permitted to purchase treatment for an additional 910,968 people. The states were given an Aug. 1 deadline to signal whether they wanted additional doses.
In a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Georgia officials said they intended to purchase the full 910,968 doses being made available.
"The belief is better safe than sorry," said Michelle Hennessey spokeswoman for Georgia's Department of Human Resources.
But the letter does not lock them into the purchase until the spring of 2007 when the antivirals will be available.
There have been three influenza pandemics in the United States in the last century. New fears revolve around a virus in birds, which could mutate and spread from human to human. There has not been an outbreak of avian influenza in the United States, although 131 people have died from the infection worldwide.
Tamiflu is regarded as the best initial defense against a pandemic resulting from a possible mutation of the deadly bird flu virus into a strain that could pass from human to human.
(Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)