Kevin Drum reviews the various possibilities for why we are dependent on a single company with British-based facilities to make flue vaccines. (Link via Instapundit). Drum’s answers are reasonable – he focuses on the burdens of FDA regulation as compared to British regulations – although I think he discounts the product liability lawsuit problem and the incentives it creates to have vaccines manufactured by an overseas subsidiary. In either case, the landscape Drum reviews – narrow profit margins squeezed by fluctuating demand, a demanding regulatory regime and serious litigation risks – is entirely irreconcilable with the picture of drug companies commonly painted by Democrats in general and the Kerry campaign in particular.
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Oh, I really loved this from Drum:
” The FDA has a famously tight regulatory regime, made even tighter in the late 90s, and as a result the United States has only two approved manufacturers of flu vaccine while Britain has half a dozen. ”
And whose fault would that be?:
https://flyunderthebridge.blogspot.com/2004/10/hillary-make-you-sick.html