do as we say, not as we do

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The company that makes nearly half the flu vaccine used in the United States said on Tuesday it will not supply any vaccine for the coming flu season because of problems at its plant in Britain.

The announcement left U.S. officials scrambling to pull together a flu vaccination program.

Chiron Corp. said British regulators had forbidden them to sell its flu vaccine after checking out sterility problems at its plant in Liverpool. The U.S. had expected to get 46 million to 48 million doses from Chiron.

That would leave the United States with at least an estimated 54 million doses of vaccine made by other companies -- far short of the 100 million health officials had expected to have on hand.

Aventis S.A. Headquarters
Espace Europeen de l'Entreprise
16, avenue de l'Europe
67917 Strasbourg - Cedex 9
France

Chiron Corporation
Gaskill Road
Speke
Liverpool L24 9GR
UK

Let me get this straight... the two suppliers we rely on to manufacture 100 million doses of flu vaccine to protect our elderly and infirmed, Chiron and Aventis, make their vaccines in Europe, but it's illegal for U.S. patients to buy prescription drugs from Canada? Does anybody else see a contradiction here?

You don't think the multinational pharmaceutical corporations have any influence over import/export policy in the U.S., do you?

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