World Health Organization exaggerated H1N1 threat?

[applecorped]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/04/AR2010060403034.html

"European criticism of the World Health Organization's handling of the H1N1 pandemic intensified Friday with the release of two reports that accused the agency of exaggerating the threat posed by the virus and failing to disclose possible influence by the pharmaceutical industry on its recommendations for how countries should respond.

The WHO's response caused widespread, unnecessary fear and prompted countries around the world to waste millions of dollars, according to one report. At the same time, the Geneva-based arm of the United Nations relied on advice from experts with ties to drug makers in developing the guidelines it used to encourage countries to stockpile millions of doses of antiviral medications, according to the second report.


....


"WHO would say categorically that it believes that it has not been subject to undue conflict-of-interest. We know that some experts that come to our committees have contact with industry. It would be surprising if they didn't because the best experts are sought by all organizations," Hartl said. "We feel that the guidelines produced were certainly not subject to undue influence."





Much ado about nothing?

 

[Beerina]

So lemme get this straight:

1. We're woefully unprepared to respond with vaccines in short periods of time.

2. It's the vaccine companies who are greedy!



Dr. Dean predicted this on his show months ago. If the CDC & friends flop, the public is outraged. If they succeed (or it's less a problem then thought) then the public gets outraged at a false alarm (with attendant conspiracy theories on greedy spending).



If anyone cared, they'd ease the liability and other issues making it an unwise business decision to make vaccines in the US. But that's another story.

 

[DC]

Novartis says thanks for the 1.1 Billion USD.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Here's a link to the BMJ editorial:

Conflicts of interest and pandemic flu

It's unfortunate a question of transparency and conflict of interest (worthy of concern) are commingled with the public's perception of the risk of an influenza pandemic and the legitimate WHO response to the threat of one.

The concern about H1N1 was legitimate and properly handled as far as could be, given the system of a pandemic response was previously untested. Pandemic H1N1 posed a legitimate risk in that it was emerging as very severe in a younger age demographic than seasonal flu. That alone was reason to treat the pandemic with all seriousness.

There were many flaws in the pandemic plan that emerged as things progressed. For one, the system was developed with a massively lethal influenza in mind. That isn't what we got. But that doesn't mean we didn't get a serious pandemic. Much of the public just doesn't get that point.

There is much we can learn from the response in order to be better prepared when the next pandemic emerges. Instead, this kind of publicity will just add to the public's ignorance about influenza.


On the other hand, the idea there might be corruption and undue influence of profits within an international organization such as the WHO is important to investigate and prevent or end. We can't afford to let the small percentage of greedy people who exist in the world to prevent an organization as important as the world's public health machine to be corrupted by the profit motive.

Here's yet another example where laissez faire economic models have the potential to produce very bad outcomes. We can't assume there is no undue influence within the WHO. But again, it is very unfortunate to mingle a problem of potential corruption with the problem of influenza because much of the public is so generally misinformed about flu already.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Novartis says thanks for the 1.1 Billion USD.

Well I say thank you to them for the vaccine they developed as fast as they did.

 

[DC]

Well I say thank you to them for the vaccine they developed as fast as they did.

no problem, it was an old patent anyway

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

no problem, it was an old patent anyway

I don't have a clue what you are on about nor what the relevance is. PRODUCTION of sufficient quantities of vaccine in a timely manner and distributing the vaccine is a big part of responding to a dangerous pandemic. The fact we know how to make the vaccine is only a small fraction of the response.

I'd also rather spend a billion in tax dollars on vaccines to save a few hundred pregnant women and a few thousand children and young adults than spend that same billion building some new weapons system that we'll never use. Do you also complain about the tax dollars being wasted in military spending?

 

[DC]

I don't have a clue what you are on about nor what the relevance is. PRODUCTION of sufficient quantities of vaccine in a timely manner and distributing the vaccine is a big part of responding to a dangerous pandemic. The fact we know how to make the vaccine is only a small fraction of the response.

I'd also rather spend a billion in tax dollars on vaccines to save a few hundred pregnant women and a few thousand children and young adults than spend that same billion building some new weapons system that we'll never use. Do you also complain about the tax dollars being wasted in military spending?

ooooh yes i do. and i would even more so if i was an US citizen

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

ooooh yes i do. and i would even more so if i was an US citizen

The complaints stem from European tax dollars being spent. I retract my erroneous egocentrism.

 

[Tatyana]

No they didn't.

New Scientist take on the whole H1N1 thing: 'Swine Flu Hoax: Get Real'

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627616.700-swine-flu-hoax-get-real.html

If it had been more deadly and loads of people had died, everyone would be moaning about how woefully unprepared we were.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

The problem with events like this is that we often see them through the lens of the media. Therefore, it is easy to imagine WHO exaggerated the outbreak because the news media reporting it almost certainly did.

 

[Fnord]

It's Officially Over, Folks.

It seems that the fear of the virus was more contagious than the virus itself.

The World Health Organization declared today that the swine flu pandemic is over, months after many national authorities started canceling vaccine orders and shutting down hotlines as the disease ebbed from the headlines.

The decision was announced by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, after consulting with the global body's emergency committee of top flu experts...

> Link to Article <

 

[INRM]

I think the WHO hyped the threat

 

[Thunder]

I did not get the vaccine. but i would have if the fear-mongering had actually panned out.