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Wall Street at Front of Line for Swine Flu Vaccine |
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Just when you think you can’t be shocked by Wall Street outrages, we hear Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and other Wall Streeters are getting supplies of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine, while school kids, pregnant women and the chronically ill are being turned away at clinics around the country because there is a shortage of the vaccine.
NBC reported that Goldman Sachs received the same amount of swine flu vaccine as Lennox Hill Hospital that serves a huge population of low- and middle-income New York families.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center received 200 of the 27,400 doses that it requested for its workers, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The Associated Press reports that while Citigroup received 1,200 doses and Morgan Stanley 1,000,
manager Linda O’Hanlon at Uptown Pediatrics in Manhattan said her office has received 500 doses so far—not enough for a practice with almost 7,000 patients.
“We have about 800 appointments” set up for patients who want to get vaccinated, she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says those who should be first in line for a swine shot are those at highest risk, but the CDC has no way to enforce how the vaccine is doled out. The federal government supplies the vaccine to state and city health departments, which in turn determine how the limited supply is distributed.
New York City health officials say the large financial firms and other companies that received does of the H1N1 vaccine have on-site health clinics and the doctors there are obligated to only provide flu shots to those in the at risk groups. But there is no way to ensure that investment bankers and derivative cowboys aren’t muscling their way to the front of the line.
On the website MomLogic, Julie, whose children haven’t been able to get vaccinated because of the shortage, writes:
How are bankers, brokers, and traders put before high-risk children who actually need the vaccine most?
My pediatrician is out of the swine flu vaccine and said he can’t get it for weeks. That means my kids are currently unvaccinated. During 2009, at least 114 children have been killed by the swine flu. How many stockbrokers have died of swine flu this year? Not 114, I can assure you!
2 Comments
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I was just told this week by my daughter’s pediatrician that he couldn’t give her the shot even though she has asthma and just developed pneumonia from a simple cold. He only got 50 doses and had higher risk patients.
Now I read this article about Wall Street getting in front of the line (again) only this time it’s ahead of sick kids. The same guys who are trying to kill Health Care Reform today.
I’m so mad I can’t even put my true thoughts into words.
Frank Callahan
If this happens, it is a crime. No one should be put before children, pregnant women and the chronically ill. If anyone dies who should have gotten the shot over these *******ds that could wait. There should be lawsuits and protests all over the place. Enough is enough.