As the tentacles of the pharmaceutical industry grasp the government more tightly the money flows into its coffers more profusely.
In a blatant tit for tat the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control is providing the grease to arrange a lucrative deal for Big Drugs to make out like bandits at the public expense. Giving the nod to a proposal to expand childhood influenza vaccinations from the current age range of 6 months to five years to include all children up to age 18 the CDC’s marketing drive will drum up millions of dollars for the industry that makes the vaccine. While flu vaccinations are currently voluntary the weight of this government agency ensures that health jurisdictions across the country will over time transform "voluntary" to "compulsory."
Even in the typically uncritical "news" story to which we link there is a dearth of compelling evidence to beef up the flu vaccination programs. Quite the opposite, in fact, since this year’s flu vaccination has been acknowledged to be ineffective against the type of flu that is prevalent. Despite a lack of a compelling need for universal flu vaccination the CDC’s recommendation will add 30 million kids to the list of those that the agency says should get a flu shot next year.
The pharmaceutical industry is officially a partner to the CDC and is not the only agency that operates under this corporate partnership. Big Drugs has profited mightily from this partnership. Every smoking ban imposed or in the works comes from "model" legislation written by pharmaceutical front groups hoping to cash in from sales of smoking cessation snake oil. Vaccinating the nation’s children will bring in far more money and certainly advances Big Drugs’ goal of having every inhabitant of the United States on some sort of drug. The drug industry may as well curtail its irritating television advertisements and concentrate solely on bribing CDC officials since it obviously gets more bang for its bucks this old fashion way.
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