The Kerry campaign has settled on three primary issues for the week: the draft, Social Security, and oddly enough, the flu vaccine. Initially, I failed to appreciate the wisdom of including the flu in this approach. I’ve since changed my mind.
Before getting into it, let’s not forget that the Bush campaign started this. Last week, BC04 started trying to seize on the flu vaccine as a campaign issue, announcing that the shortage was the fault of trial lawyers (read: John Edwards). Kerry & Co. saw the opportunity to take the issue away from Bush — and they did.
“Flu shots save lives. Three years ago, medical experts warned George Bush that a dangerous shortage loomed. Instead of fixing the problem, production of the vaccine was sent to a factory overseas — the vaccines were contaminated. Now Bush wants Canada to help, even though his own policies make it illegal for us to import medicine from Canada. Seniors and children wait. Not enough vaccines for pregnant women. A George Bush mess. It’s time for a new direction.”
You know why it’s easy to tell that this has the Bush campaign rattled? Because the president is on the defensive — and he hates being on the defensive.
“I know there are some here who are worried about the flu season,” Bush told supporters in a stadium at a [Florida] baseball training camp. “I want to assure them that our government is doing everything possible to help older Americans and children get their shots despite the major manufacturing defect that caused this problem.”
And, again, Kerry’s right there to fire back.
“If you can’t get flu vaccines to Americans, how are you going to protect them against bioterrorism? If you can’t get flu vaccines to Americans, what kind of health care program are you running?” Kerry said.
Bush doesn’t seem to have an answer. It’s driving BC04 a little crazy.
I have no idea how or whether this is working as a political issue, but Kerry seems genuinely pleased to be driving the campaign discourse for a change.
Democrat John Kerry opened remarks to a crowd here Monday by saying he heard President Bush had recently talked to seniors about prayer and flu shots. “And that’s the way it works,” he joked. “Under his plan, you don’t have a prayer of getting a flu shot.”
Indeed, as Digby noted the other day, this has all the makings of a political debacle for Bush. The president has insisted that Kerry’s health care plan would lead to long-lines for services, rationing, and government control. And now, when it comes to the flu vaccine, guess what people nationwide are experiencing?
Which leaves Bush with tort reform. Trial lawyers, we’re told, have created a system in which pharmaceutical companies don’t want to create/market the vaccines. It’s a last-ditch spin, but it’s fundamentally flawed. My friend D.H. alerted me to a terrific article from 2001 from Business Week on this subject, which explains that the companies shy away from vaccines, not because of lawsuits, but because there’s little to no profit, manufacturing the vaccines is difficult and time consuming, and they realize that unused supplies end up in the trash at the end of the year.
In other words, Big Pharm isn’t worried about lawsuits; it’s worried about bottom lines.
In the meantime, this issue is dogging Bush. Unless BC04 can come up with a more convincing spin, expect it to continue to be a major part of the campaign.