Flu addendum

1. I have never gotten a flu shot.
2. I can't remember the last time I had the flu.
3. If you suspect you have the flu, get to a doctor within 72 hours of first symptoms. Tamiflu can help. Otherwise, flood your system with hydrating lyquids, taking hot showers, and getting some fresh air helps in the recovery process. Having great friends who will bring you a thermometer, PowerAid, Nyquil, and do your shopping helps even more. :)

Overheard behind the counter

Raise your hand if you were smart enough to get the flu vaccine this year? Yeah, I figured most of you did. Now raise your hand if you know anyone who's gotten the flu this year? Quite a number of people, huh? (That would make sense since many of you reading this were at my Superbowl party and currently have the flu.) Now raise your hand if you think that since you got the vaccine, you're all set? Nope! Wrong! Cuz guess what? The flu strain that's going around this year is NOT one of the strains included in the vaccine. Sorry, guys. The scientists guessed it wrong this time.

So we go to CVS with three scripts in hand to fill, two of which are for Tamiflu. The pharmacist takes a look at the notes and says flatly: "we only have two pills left, but we can order some more and they'd be in by tomorrow." So we kindly asked her to see if another local CVS had some, and while we wait, we hear someone from behind the counter say: "This stuff had been sitting on the shelf for 6 months and all of sudden they all want it and now it's gone!"

I blame global warming.

Prescription Drug Costs

The New York Times's second editorial this morning praises the state of Texas for becoming the first state to require vaccinating girls against HPV. The new drug, Gardasil, boasts being the only drug to guard against the disease that causes cervical cancer in women. Opponents of the mandatory vaccination have nothing more against it than they do against condom distribution in schools, family planning advice, and the birth control pill: that it will promote sexual promiscuity. Of course, we all know that to be false, so there's no point in even trying to debunk that statement. As Governor Perry recently said, the HPV vaccine promotes promiscuity just as much as the Hep B vaccine promotes drug use.

I'm quite impressed that Texas was the first state to pull this off. But other states are not just sitting and doing nothing. Virginia and Colorado are both moving to mandatory vaccinations as well. As is Illinois and probably a bunch of other states as well.

While all of this is good news for the fight against cancer in general, in it's congratulatory editorial, NY Times is overlooking an important issue that is rearing it's ugly head once again: the cost of the drug. A full round of the vaccine (3 doses over an 8-month period) costs $360. While most insurance companies are covering the vaccine, they are reimbursing only $2-$15 for each $120 dose. That leaves the doctor covering at least 85% of the full cost they pay Merck, the makers of the drug. So doctors are either not providing the vaccinations, charging their patients a surcharge, or writing prescriptions for the patients to purchase the vaccine and bring it back. All this does is pass the bloated costs of the drug onto the patients. Meanwhile, Merck is spending it's time lobbying state legislators to pass the mandatory vaccination bills and donating tens of thousands of dollars to their campaigns (see Virgina). What about just lowering the cost of the drug?

What actual good do these laws do if the doctors can't afford to stock the drug and the patients are saddled with the high costs? Will costs naturally come down once the drug becomes mandatory? I'm not an expert in medical economics, and my gut feeling could be wrong, but somehow I doubt it.