State eligible for $31 million to fight swine flu

California is eligible to receive $31 million in federal grants meant to fight potential cases of the H1N1 influenza virus during the fall flu season, U.S. Secretary of  Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced today.

The grant is funded by a supplemental appropriations bill recently passed by Congress and signed into law last month by President Obama.

The announcement came a day after Sebelius hosted a summit on the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu. The meeting was attended by representatives from state, tribal, territorial and local governments from across the country.

Officials at the California Department of Public Health could not be reached for comment because of a state office furlough.

According to statistics on the state health agency’s website, as of Thursday there were 1,945 confirmed cases of H1N1 infections. Thirty-two people in California have died as a result of the virus, and there have been 287 hospitalizations, the website reports.

The grants are aimed at giving states “valuable resources to step up their flu preparedness efforts,” Sebelius said in a written statement. “We must remain vigilant and do all we can to prepare our nation and protect public health.”

California is eligible to receive $23 million in Public Health Emergency Response grants; while the City of Los Angeles could receive $9 million, according to the federal Health and Human Services Department.

The emergency response grants are designed to help state health departments with such strategies as preparing for potential vaccination campaigns, coming up with ways to limit exposure to the H1N1 flu and improving investigations of the flu.

Hospital preparedness grants totaling $8 million will go to California, and Los Angeles will receive $3 million of the sum. The money is designed to help hospitals and healthcare systems prepare for and respond to public health emergencies, such as future outbreaks of the swine flu.

A total of $260 million in emergency response grants and $90 million in hospital grants will be distributed nationwide.

--Ann M. Simmons

Comments

[Byron]

Many people, including myself, worry that we are weakening the immune system with all of these vaccines (how long before there's one for hangnails?). Some people feel that vaccination is giving rise to more autoimmune diseases wherein the immune system, evolved over the ages to engage in warfare with all kinds of germs, now with nothing to do, begins to attack itself. If someday an entire community with weakened immune systems again confronts a pathogen like H1N1 and a vaccine is not available it's feasible that the entire population could pass.

Additionally vaccination is counter evolutionary in that the way nature has always made species stronger is by their overcoming of pathogens. The history of life is has been an arms race of biological organisms vs pathogens. It's made us stronger.

What I am hearing is that for the great majority of people H1N1 will be mild. That means that these people will, after exposure, most likely develop lifelong immunity. Why would we want to deny them that? That's as opposed to those who get vaccinated and must continue to get vaccinated through out there life. Another danger with vaccination is that the disease may, after encountering the weakened defenses of a vaccinated community actually mutate to a stronger form so as to overcome these defenses. It used to be that one shot and perhaps a booster shot per pathogen was enough. Now however the number of doses is increasing.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/default.htm
The vaccine industry is of course pushing hard to make it mandatory. That would be a real windfall for them.

I'm not completely anti-vaccine, they do serve useful purpose in some cases like tetanus and vaccines for pets. But like many things that came out of the 50's such as the mass application of pesticides on crops which growing evidence says is having all kinds of harmful effects I think that vaccination will have to evolve. The wave of the future will likely be some form of intentional exposure and careful monitoring.