76-11-11
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Murphy's Law[edit]
Transcript[edit]During the mid-Thirties on a New Year's Eve, a song would sweep the country, And, for a few hours preceding midnight it seemed to be the only song anyone wanted to hear. It was silly -- but easy -- to sing , "Catchy" is the word. It literally played itself out on New Year's Eve. Oh, you'd hear it occasionally after that, but its peak was reached between sunset and midnight on that one holiday. It was something like a comet: not here for long, but it put on quite a show while it was. Last year's Swine flu scare and the vaccination program were a little like that, too. They caused quite a flurry in the news, and a lot of confusion among the people, but they seemed to disappear without a trace not long after. I have a hunch the vaccination program was done in by Murphy's Law. You know how it goes, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong". That's exactly what happened to the Swine flu vaccination program. On March 24th last year, the President announced that the government would provide "every man, woman and child" with Swine flu immunization. Trouble started within 24 hours. Dissent came from such diverse sources as the New York TIMES, health research groups, and even the inventor of oral polio vaccine, Dr. Albert Sabin. He, however, by June, had changed his mind. Congress passed a $135 million dollar bill, including $110 million dollars to buy the vaccine and $25 million to subsidize state health departments. State officials screamed because that only pro-rated out to 13 cents a shot, but the cost would be one dollar and 10 cents! On June 2nd, HEW officials announced a slight technical problem. One of the four vaccine manufacturers had produced two million doses of the wrong vaccine! The Federal Drug Administration's Bureau of Biologics had given them the wrong culture strain. Then, officials of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious diseases reported problems in determining the proper dosage for children. It seems that enough to stop the flu would cause too many side effects. In July, two firms said they wouldn't participate unless they were given liability protection. Finally, Congress -- after great debate -- offered such protections not only to the manufacturers but also to the doctors involved in the free public-immunization clinics. By August 1st, all signals were go and the drug firms announced a-hundred-and-one-million doses on hand. They would be ready by the September 15th starting date. But someone must have miscounted. On August 27th the firms said they couldn't make shipment before October 1st and only one-fourth of the hundred-and-one million doses were on hand. Then they told the shell-shocked planners of mass immunization that only 65 million doses would be ready for shipment by the end of November! Finally the program got off the ground. Then the press began reporting deaths of elderly people in connection with the vaccinations. Local health departments began closing down the program. Then, a case of Swine flu was reported in Missouri. But the confirmation on that case was withdrawn when it turned out the chap didn't have Swine flu after all. Then came the charge that a certain paralysis resulted from some vaccinations. That debate still goes on. There were 12 deaths in cases where there had been no shots given. And it seems no one knows what does cause that particular paralysis. The argument will go on, I'm sure for years, about whether the program was right or wrong. But one thing is certain, Murphy's Law was upheld. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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