12/17/2003: 
Fraud & Conspiracy
Media Acting as Pitchman for the Drug Industry
from article by Todd C. Frankel, St. Lois Post-Dispatch
Unprecedented demand for the flu vaccine has caused its price to skyrocket across the United States, from $40 a vial two months ago to as high as $215 today, leading to charges that companies are price-gouging health agencies amid fears of an unusually harsh flu season.
"It's pretty clear someone is being taken advantage of here," said Sue Denny of Missouri's state immunization program, "and it's easy to see who."
The hunt for flu vaccine has become so difficult that the U.S. government was forced to look overseas to England, where on Monday it bought 375,000 doses of flu shots made for the European market. Even that infusion is not expected to make a sizable dent in public demand. Each vial contains 10 doses.
Meanwhile, private U.S. companies have been offering for sale several hundred thousand vaccine doses at a steep markup to health agencies across the country. The companies say they are doing nothing wrong. It is a simple case of supply and demand, they say.
"We're actually doing people a favor," said Sarah Trammell, sales manager of California-based CT International.
Wow, it is a good thing the media is helping out in this situation by whipping the ignorant masses into a frenzy.
