Swine Flu Who Decides?

[swpa19]

The plan, which would guide Florida hospitals on how to ration scarce medical care during a severe flu outbreak.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-emergency-flu-plan-101709,0,6370946.story

[Surf n Turf]

And elsewhere
SnT

Germany- Officials get special swine flu vaccine

Just a week after it emerged that the German armed forces was getting a different kind of A/H1N1 vaccine to the general population, Der Spiegel magazine reports that the government will also get special treatment.
The general population will be offered the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine, called Pandemrix, which contains a new booster element, or adjuvant, as well as a preservative containing mercury.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, her cabinet members and ministry civil servants as well as those working for other agencies will get Celvapan, produced by US firm Baxter, which does not have the adjuvant or the preservative, according to Der Spiegel.
It will be used for "state servants responsible for the maintenance of public order,"http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091018-22649.html

[uboat509]

So far as I can tell from the article Florida is taking a very realistic and rational view of a potential catastrophe. It appears that pertinent medical decisions will be made by qualified health care professionals on the ground rather than a bureaucrat or political appointee. It makes me wonder what other states are doing/planning.

SFC W

[uboat509]

Chancellor Angela Merkel, her cabinet members and ministry civil servants as well as those working for other agencies will get Celvapan, produced by US firm Baxter, which does not have the adjuvant or the preservative, according to Der Spiegel.
It will be used for "state servants responsible for the maintenance of public order,"http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091018-22649.html

Yikes, that's going to leave a mark.

SFC W

[Surf n Turf]

Update. Looks like the Bundeskanzlerin has some quick PR work to do.
SnT

Damage control is the name of the game in Berlin on Monday as politicians rush to deny that they are receiving a better, safer swine flu vaccine than ordinary Germans. The first of 50 million doses arrived in Germany on Monday
One might think that the arrival in Germany of the first of 50 million doses of swine flu vaccine on Monday might be cause for celebration. But with news breaking over the weekend that top government officials in Berlin will be injected with an alternative vaccine -- one widely seen as safer -- a debate about an alleged two-class medical system has erupted.The mass-circulation tabloid Bild on Monday plastered the story on its front page on Monday, assuring its readers that "experts are accusing the government" of serving up "second class medicine" to ordinary Germans.
"The fact that politicians and top civil servants in ministries will be vaccinated with a vaccine other than the people is a terrible sign. Today politicians must take what they recommend."
The weekend scandal has drowned out a second debate which has been raging in recent weeks in the US and which has also found resonance here in Germany: whether such a massive vaccination program is necessary in the first place.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,656028,00.html