US Department of Health and Human Services should disclose much more information relevant to a flu pandemic

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From: POGO - Project on Government Oversight

[The unnecessary withholding of government information from the public has been a trait of the current president's administration. -ed.]

Federal Times in the Right Area, but Doesn't Hit the Vein

-- Eric Orenstein

October 15, 2008

Props to the Federal Times for an article by Rebecca Neal calling attention to the government's preparations for a pandemic flu outbreak, an issue that POGO has examined in some detail. The story points out that Health and Human Services' (HHS) current plan is to vaccinate "20 million people deemed critical" in the case of an emergency. What HHS has not done is tell the public, convincingly and in detail, who will receive the vaccinations and why. In the event of an outbreak, an imperiled public would probably not be willing to listen to justifications as to why it cannot get help.

POGO agrees with the main point of Neal's article--that HHS needs to detail their plans for protecting the public. That said, the government should disclose much more information relevant to a flu pandemic. In a recent report, POGO lists documents that we think should be made readily available. Among these are documents related to manufacturing capacity, dependence on foreign manufacturers, vaccine alternatives, and budget plans. This issue is too important to be hidden deep within government files. HHS needs to make the public aware of the safeguards it has in place, as well as its plans to manage crises of national (not to mention global) magnitude.

Click below to watch a video of POGO's Ned Feder discussing our investigation into the government's pandemic flu vaccine program:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dehEyvIAa_A

[POGO article accepts comments]

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