A Billion pounds + spent on the Swine flu pandemic ...that wasn't!

[Bobbisox]

What a waste of money, how could they get it so wrong?
Just imagine what other resources this would have helped

[mollykins]

Bobbi, what would you be saying now, if they hadn't of spent that money and it did become serious, with many thousands or millions of people dieing, they did it to be on the safe side.

[Sqad]

vibra...yes, if one doesn't agree with their opinions, opinions are just that....opinions.
The data of ANY medical body is open to scrutiny and interpretation and medics have got it wrong i the past.

[bigfoot3000]

Aah I see vibra, the rich life eh!

[Robinia]

But isn't it likely swine flu return again this winter? The Australians seem to be experiencing it again

[Sqad]

molly, but that wasn't happening....by July it was clear that the epidemiological forcaasts by the WHO was incorrect, but this was covered up by the scientists saying "ah! but wait until the influenza season starts in the winter....it did....and nothing happened.

The big danger would have been if the H1N1 had mutated,,,,,then big sh1t, but it never did.....that was the saving grace.

HINI was a mild disease which was treated by hitting it with a sledgehammer.

In my opinion.

[Bobbisox]

Government were advised and they did what was right at the time, so I wouldn't hold them accountable, maybe their advisors?
probably a good lesson could be learnt from it tho, as I have said, I take all views on board here !

[Bobbisox]

perhaps so Robinia, we will have the vaccines in place now, whether or not I would have it done, depends on the research I suppose

[Sqad]

bobbi.....don't you think that the Government leans on Medical Committees? I do.

Recently two eminent doctors have resigned, because the Government hadn't given them permission to publish papers that went against Government policy.

[Bobbisox]

I wouldn't like to say sqad, I really don't know, but I am sure it must happen

[jackthehat]

I think part of the problem was the unpopularity of the then government.
Had this happened in 1997/8 when we were basking in the glow of a new and young dynamic parliament, we'd have been saying things like "well, it's always better to be safe than sorry" or "mistakes happen" or "who can really predict quite how this virus is going to behave"..........
Instead it came towards the end where we were all a little jaded and suspicious and disinclined to believe almost 'anything' that was said on the matter by the government or its' specialists.

[Bobbisox]

well put jack, there was a lot of suspicion about the last year or so of GBs Government, so that could be right

[LazyGun]

The nature of vaccines means you need to quite a long lead time for development, manufacture and trial.
For the Govt to be able to stockpile a sufficiency of the specific H1N1 vaccine to cover the population, they had commission the development of the vaccine very early on in the presentation of swine flu.
At the time of that decision, all available evidence suggested that H1N1 could be an extremely nasty epidemic, with a high mortality rate, especially amongst children It is wrong to blame the Govt for ensuring we were well prepared with a working vaccine.

Despite it being, thankfully, a mild presentation, it is still the case that hundreds of thousands suffered symptoms, and over 450 people died. It could have been a lot lot worse, and where there are severe threats to the public health and wellbeing, the precautionary principle should be invoked.

I do think that the Government erred in one area of its response though. The setting up of Tamiflu hotlines, and the dispensing of tamiflu on the basis of a multiple choice questionaire was dubious.Tamiflu remains one of the few drugs we have that can help to retard the spread of a pandemic virus, and issuing it so freely gives to much opportunity for the next mutation of the flu virus to build up an immunity to the action of Tamiflu.

Other than that, I look forward to reading the report and its recommendations. I for one think that, by and large, the Government and the Health Services should be praised for their preparedness and response, rather than castigated by hindsight.