# 534
Newspaper reporters don't generally get to write the headline. That is usually left up to the editor. Sometimes, I have to wonder if the editor reads past the first paragraph.
This disingenuous (and misleading) headline appeared on The Worldlink.com. I have no idea who actually created the headline, but it certainly doesn't represent the gist of the story.
WHO: Stockpile vaccines to assure plenty for all countries
By Margie Mason, AP Medical Writer
Saturday, March 3, 2007 11:53 AM PSTJAKARTA, Indonesia - Building a stockpile of bird flu vaccine would help ensure poor countries do not lose out if a flu virus starts killing people worldwide, the World Health Organization's top flu official said Friday.
Up to 500 million doses of vaccine can now be produced, far short of the amount that would be needed if people begin falling ill from bird flu en masse. Indonesia and other developing countries in Asia fear the limited supply of vaccine would be out of reach for them, even though they provided the viruses to make it.
A so-called virtual stockpile, which can be built from countries that agree to donate a portion of their vaccine, could guarantee some vaccine would be equitably distributed within the developing world in the event of a pandemic, Dr. David Heymann, WHO's top flu official, told The Associated Press. A long-term goal would be for poor countries to receive enough technology and training to produce vaccines.
Nowhere in this story (which I blogged extensively on here) does it say that a stockpile would `ensure plenty for all countries'.
In fact, in the second paragraph we learn the global yearly production is only 500 million doses, far short of what is needed. Short by about 6 billion doses, in fact.
The third paragraph suggests that a virtual stockpile would guarantee `some vaccine would be equitably distributed'.
Some, as in a little, a token amount.
How anyone can come up with `plenty for all countries' out of this story is beyond me.
But it's a reassuring headline. It tells people not to worry, all is being taken care of. There will be `plenty'.
Sigh.
