The letter written in your Oct. 21 edition — which blamed the shortage of flu vaccine directly on litigation — gave a much too simple and inaccurate reason for a complicated problem. Litigation is not the primary reason we now have insufficient flu vaccine.
Actually, the main reason is there is little profit in flu vaccine manufacture. It must be made annually, as vaccine does not keep year-to-year, and the manufacturing process is tedious. The federal government has been aware of this problem for three years. Research must be continued to develop a more efficient way to manufacture vaccine, and the FDA (and/or Centers for Disease Control) should have the ability to ensure public health is considered in distribution decisions.
So, it is not trial lawyers who are to blame, but corporate decision makers who are most at fault. Other nations — such as Great Britain and Canada — do not have problems with their flu vaccine supply.
We cannot continue to allow corporate CEOs to make greedy decisions which impact our elderly. This can be changed.
Sandy Van Sant
Little Silver