re: bta/gsk - u.s. unprepared for super-flu pandem
When the consequences are unimaginable, you must assume the worst-case scenario."
Added Dr. Michael Ryan of the World Health Organization: "This is certainly a dangerous virus, and it has crossed the species barrier now in 130 cases. We're probably closer to a pandemic at any time in the last 37 years."
The U.S., which has not seen any signs of the strain in birds or people, has only enough doses now for 4.3 million people.
President Bush has proposed stockpiling enough of the anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza for 81 million people, a goal drug manufacturers believe they can reach by mid-2007, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We're not prepared for vaccination, that's why we need to scale up.
