Would You Trust the Chimperor and His Minions to Manage a Worldwide Pandemic?

On PBS last night, I watched "Wide Angle" (following a similar report on ABC two weeks ago) about the potential of a global pandemic even more devastating than the 1918-19 Spanish Flu that killed between 20 and 40 million people. The H5N1 "killer virus" has apparently made the transition from avian-to-human transmission to human-to-human transmission, as evidenced by outbreaks in Southeast Asia, although it still seems to be difficult for the virus to quickly move through a population. Now if you don't believe in evolution, perhaps you'll feel safe, because then the virus has to be exactly as created by God and preserved by Noah on the ark, right? But for the rest of us, the potential of this bug is terrifying.

Here's one reason why: the Spanish Flu had a mortality rate of 2-5 percent. H5N1 so far has killed 54 percent of reported victims.

Here's the next reason why: in keeping with Bush neocon anti-government ideology, the public health system in this country is in a shambles, and I have no reason to believe that the equivalent of Michael Brown and Michael Chertoff at FEMA have not been replicated throughout the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, and in the Food and Drug Administration. The evidence is already clear. Tamiflu, manufactured by only one company in the world, Roche in Switzerland, is the only known remedy for this terrible flu. A vaccine is in the works, but the required dosages will not be produced in time to forestall the first wave of a global pandemic. Meanwhile, other nations like the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Sweden have managed to stockpile sufficient doses of TamiFlu to protect their populations. These countries also have adequate public health policies and staff in place, ready to react if the virus makes its move.

Here in the good old USA, a nation of nearly 300 million, the number of doses of Tamiflu is still inadequate, and the US, once more caught with its pants down, is way down the list for nations in line to receive more of the drug. Once again, the richest (statistically), most powerful (militarily) nation on earth is moving toward third world status with regard to public health matters.

It will be argued that the Bush administration has increased budgets for CDC and other agencies, and this is true; however the increases measure up something like this. The total, TOTAL, budget for strengthening the public health infrastructure in the United States is less than we spend in one month in Iraq. And who is administering those agencies? Another Michael Brown? Perhaps some fundamentalist Christian crony of Chimpie who believes that such a pandemic is God's wrath for believing in evolution? As the virus mutates and spreads across the globe, will Chimpie once again decide that his leisure time, workouts, and cedar cutting on his "ranch" take higher priority than the public welfare? Oh, you can be sure that the connected, the rich, and the Republican elite will all have access to vaccine and Tamiflu. Can an administration play catch-up by throwing money at a pandemic that kills half its victims, if that government was a day late and a dollar short like it was for Katrina?

Not fucking likely. If you think Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath showed a level of corruption, cronyism, and incompetence like no other in our Bush-bought empire, then you might be relieved to know that in the wake of H5N1, Katrina will seem like some benigh urban renewal project.

To be fair, visit the CDC website and learn about the bug from official sources--I'm no expert, to be sure. It may give some comfort.

The good news is that this pandemic is not inevitable. The bad news is that this administration, if it stays true to form, is betting that bad stuff won't happen, just like in Iraq, just like on the national debt, just like on the Gulf Coast as Katrina approached. And if they lose that bet, we are going to witness a disaster on the level of the Black Plague in Europe, where millions upon millions will die, and many millions more will be disabled or require medical care that will not be available. Whole cities will be quarantined. The economy will grind to a stagger, then a halt. No war in history will have killed as many people as who may succumb to this virus.

All for the want of just a few billion dollars in proactive and preventive planning.

Welcome to Bushworld, suckers.