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Swine Flu Stirred Profits, but Fewer Deaths than Predicted
Sunday, January 31, 2010

From the U.S. government to the United Nations, the warnings last spring were that H1NI was going to infect billions of people and kill hundreds of thousands. But it turned out the panic produced only millions in profits for pharmaceutical companies that made swine flu vaccines and preventive care.

In 2009, President Barack Obama’s science advisers warned the virus could infect up to 120 million Americans and kill 90,000. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted H1N1 could infect two billion and claim hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.

So far, the dreaded flu has killed a confirmed 14,711 around the world. The exact total in the U.S. is unclear, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirming 4,000 deaths, but estimating up to 16,500 in case of underreporting. These numbers are not only smaller than what was predicted but also are far less than the normal mortality rate for ordinary flu seasons.

The one thing that was up last year was earnings for makers of H1N1 vaccines. CSL Limited saw its profits rise 63% above 2008 levels by June 2009, while GlaxoSmithKline enjoyed a 30% jump by the third quarter. Roche, maker of the preventive Tamiflu, enjoyed a twelve fold leap in profits from the second quarter of 2008 to the same period in 2009.

The Council of Europe is reportedly investigating whether WHO officials “faked” the pandemic to boost revenues for drug companies.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

Swine Flu Didn't Fly (by Niko Kyriakou, Truthout)

The Pandemic Is Political (by Michael Fumento, Forbes)

Profiting from Swine Flu (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Comments

Guy - 1/31/2010 3:59:13 PM
Just shows you how it's all about money.

sarah - 1/31/2010 12:32:58 PM
would just like to point out that the actual wording from the WHO site is as follows: "As of 17 January 2010, worldwide more than 209 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 14142 deaths." this says that 209 countries have had lab confirmed H1N1 cases - it very carefully does NOT say that the 14142 deaths have been lab confirmed. they are not lab confirmed. This number is a composite of estimates from the worldwide regional offices. PLEASE read the fine print and stop repeating the number of deaths as lab-confirmed. It is not. The US (check the CDC website!) has only 1850 lab confirmed H1N1 deaths. The other numbers are estimates - nothing more.

Nohbody - 1/31/2010 12:01:36 PM
Reminds me a bit of the Y2K panic. People who were experts said "hey, guys, we have a potential problem here that could seriously break stuff". Government and press picked up on it and, as is their wont, went crazy over it, while corporations took steps to fix the problem. System didn't fall down and go boom because of the fixes, so people who didn't know about the IT industry's efforts figured that since nothing happened, there was never an issue in the first place. People took actions based on the warnings of H1N1 to limit exposure to the virus (mostly common sense stuff like not coughing or sneezing on others, washing hands regularly, and so forth), but much of it was on an individual level, so most in the world didn't see it outside of their local circle of acquaintances and figured that others weren't doing anything because of that lack of visibility, and thus assumed that there was never a problem in the first place. This isn't a left/right thing, or a government power thing, or even corporate shenanigans as much as it is plain old human nature.

Foghorn Leghorn - 1/31/2010 10:19:54 AM
So, where did the virus come from? How come there's no talk of that. When it was Avian Flu, the US media made sure everybody knew the virus came from China. Now, there's a flu that causing 17,000 deaths and no word where it came from? That's very suspect.

Sarah - 1/31/2010 8:02:27 AM
yeah wurman - how did the vaccine reduce death when it was administered after the peak and less than 20% of the population was vaccinated? experts are always going on about that 90% vaccination rate to achieve 'herd immunity'. If 20% vaccination is sufficient, then let the non-vaxers have their exemptions in peace. Pursuant to the article: according to the CDC website for this week it says: "From August 30, 2009 – January 23, 2010, 39,386 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations and 1,850 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated deaths were reported to CDC." So the US only has 1850 lab confirmed H1N1 deaths for this flu season. I don't know where you are getting the 4,000 figure. Furthermore, the 14,000+ deaths the WHO is reporting includes the outrageous 11,000 'estimate' from the CDC. Yup - the CDC estimates 11,000 deaths even though the US only has 1850 confirmed (quite a leap wouldn't you say?) and then expects us to believe that we have 11,000 of the 14,000 deaths worldwide. AND - where is your reporting on the fact that Tamiflu was found worthless by the Cochrane Review - but the WHO and CDC are still recommending the drug for kids and pregnant women?

ReallyLook - 1/31/2010 7:52:52 AM
to wurman: The H1N1 vaccines may have reduced the deaths but not as much as you may think. Note that the deaths from H1N1 so far are about 14,000 but that yearly deaths from normal seasonal flu are about 250,000 to 500,000 a year with people taking the normal seasonal flu vaccines already. Isn't it obvious by any stretch of the imagination that the H1N1 "pandemic" was over-hyped? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic And even regular flu vaccines are not as effective as you may think: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/brownlee-h1n1 Six Good Reasons to Avoid the Flu Shot: http://www.naturalnews.com/024624.html

Peter - 1/31/2010 7:30:39 AM
The vaccine happened after the worst was over. It had no effect on the number of deaths. Flu vaccines don't even work for most of the population. Cochrane et al. proved that recently yet no one seems to care.

wurman - 1/31/2010 6:04:23 AM
The general stupidity of these illogical comments seems over-the-top. Medical folks asserted that there could be a pandemic. So governments took action to vaccinate. The effects of the flu outbreak were reduced. Then commenters claim that the pandemic never reached the predicted effects; thus the predictors were wrong and the vaccine providers reaped undeserved profits???? But the predictors too the actions that limited the effects by providing the vaccines that . . . oh well, never mind.