Bird Flu

President Bush wants "every American to have a vaccine in the case of a pandemic, no matter what the virus is." This is like the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars: Let's put a shield up so that it kills all incoming threats. Sounds good, but is it plausible?

A vaccine is only as good as the disease it kills. When the disease changes or mutates, you need a new vaccine. Are we saying that we are going to pump our bodies full of vaccine every time a new flu virus comes along? Though that may be good for the corporations manufacuring the vaccines, it somehow doesn't seem good for the humans being injected with the stuff. Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University says, "The notion is that prevention beats therapy." Of course he's referring to vaccination as prevention, and I agree up to a point, but vaccination should only be one approach. Some things in China and other countries must change if the world is to prevent this continuous onslaught of Asian diseases.