Tulsa World: Europe gives swine flu vaccine mostly by invite

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Europe gives swine flu vaccine mostly by invite
2 London 2 London

Joseph Hartstein receives the swine flu vaccination at the local health authority in Dusseldorf, western Germany, last week. Doctors in Germany have been contacting high-priority patients to come in for their swine flu shot. Frank Augstein/Associated Press

By MARIA CHENG Associated Press
Published: 11/7/2009 2:27 AM
Last Modified: 11/7/2009 2:27 AM

In Britain, there are no long lines of people seeking swine flu vaccine. Doctor's offices aren't swamped with desperate calls. And there are no cries of injustice that the vaccine is going to wealthy corporations or healthy people who don't really need it.

Here, and across most of Europe, vaccine to protect against the pandemic flu is mostly given by invitation only to those at highest risk for flu complications.

"That is one of the great advantages of the British health system," said Dr. Steve Field, president of the Royal College of General Physicians. "We have a list of all the names of patients who qualify to be vaccinated."

When Britain unrolled its pandemic vaccination program last month, it designed its campaign to ensure that priority groups — including pregnant women, health workers and those with chronic health problems like diabetes, cancer and AIDS — get the shots first.

Instead of advertising that vaccine had arrived and waiting for the lines to form, Britain's National Health Service sent letters, inviting all those who qualify to make an appointment and get the shots first.

Just this week, Americans learned that Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup got swine flu vaccine,

even as many doctor's offices and community clinics still had none. The companies obtained the vaccine through standard procedures. But the perception of unfairness set off an outcry.

In the United Kingdom, the general population will be offered the shot after priority groups have been taken care of, probably in about two months. For now, only children with health problems are a priority; healthy children are not.

Similar programs are being carried out in other European countries, all of which have socialized medicine:

In Germany, doctors have also been contacting high-priority patients to come in for their swine flu shot, though other people who have asked for one have not been turned away.

In Sweden, Denmark and Finland, some local governments are sending invitations to people in high-risk groups or posting information about vaccine availability on their Web sites.

So far, France is only vaccinating health-care workers. Its health minister said 6 million people in priority groups would start getting invitations next week.

In North America, swine flu vaccination has largely been a free-for-all, although some U.S. states have recently beefed up their screening process.

In the U.S., the federal government is paying for the vaccine and rationing supplies to each state. Then state and local health departments decide where it goes next — from schools to doctor's offices to community health clinics and even some large companies with health directors. By MARIA CHENG Associated Press

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Elusive, the burbs (11/7/2009 4:13:03 AM)

That's sounds like America, free for all. You can bet there will be people in line Saturday that do not have any health issues.

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