# 646
In the coming weeks the Florida Legislature must decide whether to allocate funds for the purchase of Tamiflu for use in the event of an influenza pandemic. Most states around the country have opted in to a federally subsidized program that allows them to buy this potentially lifesaving drug at nearly 1/10th the retail cost.
Amazingly, it’s looking like Florida will not follow suit.
Governor Crist has asked that this item be included in this year’s budget, but it is apparently held up in the legislature. There are doubts that a pandemic may happen, worries that the drug’s shelf life of 5 years makes it an unwise investment, and concerns that the drug might not be effective in a pandemic.
All three are valid concerns. A pandemic might not happen. Or it might not happen in the next 5 years. And how effective Tamiflu might be, once a pandemic strain develops, is unknown.
Spending the money is, admittedly, a gamble. But sometimes, prudence dictates taking such gambles, when the stakes are as high as a pandemic might present.
Based on Federal estimates, a pandemic could kill 128,000 Floridians, and send another 640,000 to the hospital. These are not the `worst-case’ estimates, but are based on a repeat of the 1918 Spanish Flu. No one really knows what a `worst-case scenario’ could be like.
The cost of purchasing the Tamiflu today is 36.7 million dollars. It isn’t all that we should be doing to prepare, but it’s a start. We need stockpiles of PPE’s for public service workers, and ideally, a State Pandemic Czar and an operating budget to work with. A well funded operation, out of a budget of $70 Billion dollars, it would represent a drop in the bucket, less that .01% of the total.
That’s the price of an insurance policy against a catastrophic event. One that many scientists believe is certain to happen sometime in the future. It may happen this year, or next, or perhaps not for a decade. No one really knows. But there are ominous signs right now with the H5N1 virus that it could happen sooner than later.
I recognize there are other needs out there, other priorities, and spending money on something that might not happen is risky. But that is the whole idea behind any insurance; you pay up front for some protection against a disaster that might not happen.
For decades politicians waffled over whether to upgrade the levees around New Orleans. They pointed to the costs, and how rarely catastrophic hurricanes had struck that city. They hit, on average, about every 40 years. Ironically, roughly the same time span we’ve seen between global pandemics over the past 300 years.
Repairs and upgrades that were urged, and could have been completed decades ago, would have cost on the order of $10 billion dollars back in the 1970’s. Instead, the issue was ignored year after year, until finally in 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck that city, and caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage, and took nearly 2000 lives.
I think most people would agree that a little preventive maintenance, even to the tune of $10 billion dollars, would have been preferable to the disaster we saw in 2005.
The effects of a pandemic on the state of Florida would be many times worse, and yet, the costs to prepare are far less.
Florida is more than a tourist state, and the home of Mickey Mouse. It’s the home of nearly 18 million people, residents who expect their representatives to look out for them.
We spend hundreds of millions of dollars to replenish beaches, to plant palm trees, and to advertise our charms around the world. Those of us who live, and work here, deserve to see at least a fraction of that amount spent to protect us against a potential pandemic.
Explaining to the citizens of Florida why their legislators spent money anticipating a pandemic that might not happen might be difficult. But explaining to the citizens of our state why we didn’t prepare if one does happen will be impossible.
This won't be my last word on this subject. Time is short, and citizens of Florida need to contact their legislators and let them know we deserve reasonable protections against a looming pandemic threat.
I'd urge everyone to visit Flutrackers.com, where members are mounting a campaign to change the minds of our representatives. Being prepared will save lives. The life you save, could be your own. Or that of your children, or grandchildren.
