Calif. Woman Dies After Wait for Flu Shot

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=2&u=/ap/flu_vaccine_death

LAFAYETTE, Calif. - A 79-year-old woman who stood in line outside a supermarket for more than five hours waiting for a flu shot collapsed and later died, the woman's daughter said.

Marie Franklin stood with her husband and hundreds of other seniors outside a Safeway supermarket Wednesday but collapsed when she left the line to seek shade, striking her head, said Ginni Poulos, Franklin's daughter.

Franklin died from her injuries on Thursday, according to the country coroner's office.

"She was standing the entire time, with nowhere to sit and no shade," Poulos said.
(snip)

Gosh, didn't she listen to Bush? Don't get a flu shot unless you really really need one! She was only 79, how selfish of her to not let all the 80 year olds go first.

Bush will blame her no doubt.

I'm feeling safer and safer every minute Bush stays in office. He'll protect us, yessiree!

:wtf: is wrong with this country?

much less protect us against a bio-weapons attack.

But he gave his rich buddies a tax cut, and that's all that counts!

being over 50 with cancer, undergoing chemotheraphy certainly increases the risks associated with the flu - I hope we can get the vaccine.

My husband had an interesting thought after watching the last debate. He's suspicious of bush's claim (well, one of MANY bush claims that he finds fishy) that he skipped his flu shot this time so that there'd be one more dose for somebody else in greater need. Reasoning: the President of the United States - WHOEVER that happens to be - gets the very best health care IN THE WORLD. The best on the planet. The leader of the free world has to have the best because such an individual has to be kept healthy, and his physical condition has to remain optimum at all times. The first possible flu shot hot out of the factory however many weeks (or months?) ago would probably be earmarked straight for him. Seems to me they'd take his, and those for his family, and those for his veep and HIS family, straight off the top and send it out to the pResident's personal physician immediately. Specially since bush happens to have a vice pResident who has a fairly reasonable health excuse. And considering the attitude and behavior of these selfish, greedy, what's-in-it-for-ME, ME-FIRST poster children, I'd bet this is what happened.

How do we know bush REALLY didn't get a flu shot? Early-on, when they first came out, as they were being prepared for market?

I'm angry I cannot get one but to let elderly folk STAND FOR HOURS - WTF???? Where is the common sense?????

:argh:

It just occurred to me that it might be this flu vaccine scandal that is the tipping point.

The OTHER October Surprise.

Another bush regime victim, poor lady. We MUST see these incompetent, greedy, petty, vindictive, narrow-minded schmucks OUSTED, or this will be yet another American who will have died - in vain.

Dear God how these jackals disgust me!

is supposed to have flu shots tomorrow morning starting at 10am. my mom got hers there thurs morning they give priority to seniors.

My parents were out to dinner with them last night and he told my parents he couldn't get a shot at his doctor's clinic. Thanks! :hi:

and does she have a folding chair she can take?

In fact, I don't even know if they're Costco members. I doubt they are.

Criminy, I can't believe we even have to have this conversation - 98-year-olds taking folding chairs to warehouse stores to get a vaccine? We've truly fallen down the rabbit hole.

Thanks, Skittles. I think I need you to kick some ass for me soon. :D

HALF of our vaccines from one plant - OVERSEAS? WTF??????? *cyberscreaming*

it ALL comes from a total of TWO overseas plants, i believe.

have some Viagra instead.

and remember, the shortage is a paper shortage, i don't believe anybody has actually said exactly why the vaccine was pulled, just that it may be contaminated. there is vaccine just across the border in canada, but it is not good enough to risk the life of americans, or so says some regulation. there's LOTS of vaccine out there...good enough for the rest of the world, but not good enough for us americans. they could waive the regulations, but that would leave them no choice but to allow all the other drugs from canada as well. it's not that only two companies make the vaccine, it's that only two have bought off the government approval needed to sell it in the US.

.. how fucking ironic! She's here visiting, (we're right next to Tacoma), and her health would not allow her stand in line like that for a shot.

Bush should be thrown out of office over this shit!

My thoughts are with her family.

My god, what's next? Freaking bread lines?? Welcome to Bush's Amerika.

(Prime neocon) spoke of. He said they're dying and they're the base of the Dem party. So the Dem party is coming to an end. Little did he know how many he might be able to write off as a result of the flu vaccine shortage.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/20/212529/479

When asked about if he thought the Democratic Party was coming to an end Norquist told Pablo Pardo of El Mundo:

"Yes, because in addition their demographic base is shrinking. Each year, 2 million people who fought in the Second World War and lived through the Great Depression die.

This generation has been an exception in American history, because it has defended anti-American policies. They voted for the creation of the welfare state and obligatory military service.

They are the base of the Democratic Party. And they are dying.

And, at the same time, all the time more Americans have stocks. That makes them defend the interests of business, because it is their own interest. Because of that, it's impossible to bring to the fore policies of social hate, of class warfare."

Grover Norquist is only partially correct. Yes, that generation is dying off. BUT: He won't admit that as THAT generation moved up in age AND in affluence, many of them turned Republican (and subsequently, republi-CON). A lot of the folks in that generation are also the folks you see in the board room, and the biggest big-shot stock holders and directors and corporate barons and captains of industry. And their families.

Norquist also ignores one other factor: Matters like this turn people. Look at the Yahoo story about Kerry venturing into GOP territory, and, particularly, the focus on the individual Republican defector at the top of the story:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041016/ap_on_el_pr/kerry&cid=694&ncid=2043

"APPLETON, Wis. - John Nusbaum voted three times to put a man named Bush in the White House. This year, he's voting for John Kerry (news - web sites). It's voters like Nusbaum, a 60-year-old resident of De Pere, Wis., that the Democratic candidate wants to unearth by touring traditional GOP counties in Wisconsin and Ohio, two states virtually deadlocked in the race for the presidency.

Explaining why he won't vote for Bush again, Nusbaum said, "What turned the tide for me was when I read the Medicare bill." Nusbaum's upset that Republicans prohibited the government from negotiating bulk discounts when purchasing prescription drugs for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit."

In health care crises, like this one, people tend to turn more liberal. Mainly because it starts to hit them where they live, or affect someone they know or care about. Plus, people around them see what's happening, and don't like what they're seeing. PLUS, many of those observers are younger, and become concerned, especially as THEY, TOO, move up in age and the concern continues and grows even more real and personal. And people around THEM start to notice and become concerned.

Those old people ARE dying off. But there are many, many, many more potentially old people coming up behind them, to fill their places, and they will have the SAME concerns. If they don't, they soon will. Because the SAME issues will face them as well.

And one ADDITIONAL thing Norquist doesn't recognize (or maybe just doesn't want to): He evidently doesn't factor in the people in the OTHER traditional Democratic-leaning groups who are still OURS: minorities, MOST gays, MOST women, and the poor - who are NOT shrinking in numbers OR dying off, thank you very much. OR students (those most directly threatened by a draft).

Norquist assumes that conditions remain static for all other demographic groups BELOW seniors in age. And that's just plain STOOpid. He's been hanging around with bush-types for too long. It's started to rub off on him. But then again, these people are MOST adept at denial. That's the country they pledge allegiance to, before the United States of America. Their home base is the United States of Denial.

I've always said - even Grover Norquist expects his trash to be picked up on schedule. And that's government work, my friends. The government he despises and wants to see shrunk so small it can drown in a bathtub. His is a Bizarro World Utopia that's as unrealistic as he thinks we liberals are. Maybe moreso. I SNEER at people like Grover Norquist. He'll snap out of this some day when conditions conspire to hit him, or someone he loves or cares about, straight in the face with the proverbial 2x4.

full of WWII vets. And MOST of them are repukes. Very few dems there at all.

Forgot to say that my parents are two of those Dems. :)

that makes it impossible to stand in one place for more than a few minutes or to even be on my feet for more than a couple of hours (shopping is murder), I can tell you all that this is no surprise. Next time you are in line for anything, look for benches. Look to see if any accomodation has been made for those of us who need canes or crutches or are simply frail. You rarely will, and thus you will rarely see us in lines. When the flu vaccine was being offered here last week, I chose not to get one because I knew I could not stand in the line.

When disabled people talk about access, this is the sort of thing we mean. It's too bad that someone died from the lack of consideration, but it isn't surprising.

I got a wild hair that we don't encourage folks to walk, that subdivisions aren't really walker-friendly so I've begun doing more gardening down by the street so walkers would have something interesting to look at. I also tucked a small bench and a chair into a corner of my lot (I have a corner lot) next to the street--especially for the elderly and frail. There is a pot with flowers and plants, a pretty garden-sized flag, and small sign that says "A place to rest, Dear Neighbor." I'm hoping that someone who can't walk very far will say, "Well, I can make it to the house with the bench and have a 'sit down.'"

I am going to spread your idea around. It doesn't solve the problem of access to public services, but it sure makes for a more inviting neighborhood to all.

It is just a wee bit subversive. I am a European American immigrant and while I can't make my 1970s subdivision look like an inviting (inviting in terms of scale for walking) European street. I hope that people scattered throughout my neighborhood will say, "I could tuck one here in my yard." The idea is not that every house have a bench but that they'd be scattered around.

And I have noticed that people are putting more flowers and stuff down by the street. Sometimes, it is just a couple of pots by their mailbox (we are RFD) and at the end of their driveways. I started with two (last for 20 years plastic) faux rainbarrels on each side at the end of my driveway. Put a no-disease small (groundcover) rose and some ivy in each one. One has a small flag stand (see www.flagsonline.com) in one. Now, I just tuck a couple of different seasonal plants in each one. They aren't formal mirror images of each other but complement each. BTW, I mixed the soil with those crystals that hold water so less watering. A person could investigate self-watering planters at gardeners.com to make watering even less of a chore.

there are quite literally NO poor people in Lafeyette. Virtually everyone is a homeowner and the property values are insanely high.

The Lafeyette Safeway would count as a gourmet specialty store in most areas. This is the kind of place where smiling people offer you samples of imported cheese on Wednesday mornings.

If this is how we treat our rich folks you know what the rest of us are getting....shafted.

Poor ones let it go because it's normal, but the rich don't sit still for it.

Tee hee.

Wouldn't it be prudent now if corporations begin examining their work environment to insure that germs are maintained to a minimum? One thing they can do is not overwork their employees and make sure they get plenty of time to rest at home.

this is sooo sad.

Believe me all kinds of people are PO'ed about this whole situation and they (from across spectrums) are pointing their fingers directly at W.

The flu shot issue, which is certainly minor compared to wholesale war in Iraq, stolen elections, raping and pillaging of the American public by corps., etc., is a perfect visual and visceral manifestation of all the problems being brought to a head so that the everyday American can see, feel and touch the problem.

So many people never "get it" because "it" is not concrete to them. How many people have told you that "we have the best health care system in the world" with no evidence at all to back it up? How many times have repubs said that our health care system is perfect compared to those socialistic bastards elsewhere who ration everything and watch people die?

But now, grandma has to stand in line for 7 hours for a flu shot, if she can even get one at all.

Even a crackhead can see that this is fucked up, and even a simpleton can draw the conclusion that these bastards couldn't protect us from a house fly.

for medical care, like they do in those (gasp!) SOCIALISTIC countries?!?!?!? Looks like THEIR way is just EVER so much better, doesn't it? THIS is the one that's gonna hit home. THIS may be the REAL October Surprise.

:wtf:

West Palm Beach. Seniors stood in line beginning at 1:30 a.m. to get flu shots, some in wheelchairs and with walkers. I didn't catch where this was, but they waited 7 or 8 hours - ALL NIGHT. Many were sent away after the flu shots ran out. It is unbelievable!

I called the Dr. last week, and asked about getting one...they asked me when my next appointment was, and i said "november"...they told me they wouldn't have any vaccine left by then, so they told me to come in monday at 2pm...i got there at 1:45, and was back out in my car by 1:50.
no lines, no fuss, no muss.
BTW- I have an immuno-system disorder, so i'm in the high-risk category- my Dr. insists that i get the flu shot every year.

My dr. also insists that I get a flu shot every year, as I am an asthmatic. But there is no vaccine available, none, zilch, zero, in our area. What are those of us with insistent doctors supposed to do now?
:scared:

that's what i did.

they likely won't get any vaccine at all this season (this is one of the largest health organizations in Michigan). They told me to make sure I wash my hands more frequently than usual. Isn't that sad?? Some public health policy!:(

have the vaccine in till 'sometime in November.' And according to him, the law says 'first come, first served.' No appointments allowed for the vaccine. She gets a flu shot every year. This year, I'm doubting it very much.

responsible for the vaccine.

WOODRUFF: You know it's serious when you read that some states will fine or jail doctors and nurses who give flu shots to people who are not at high risk.

SCHNEIDER: Right, and that sounds a lot like rationing


Anyone hear or read anymore about this? Was she projecting or is this happening?

So yes, it is happening. Our local media hasn't reported anyone being fined yet. The fine is something like $500 or so.

As Hillary said on Air America, they did see this crisis looming - and had all sorts of proposals for W/GOP with the predictable results.
Her family should sue BFEE.

By the way, Chiron is NOT a British Company as George Bush* said in the last debate!. It is housed in California and they have a plant in England.

Excuse THIS, george.

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