Blunt: H1N1 Vaccines Should Go To Moms & Kids First

Congressman Roy Blunt seized on media reports that Goldman Sachs received H1N1 vaccines before some hospitals and blamed the Obama administration for its failure to "manage distribution of this vaccine."

"While many Missourians are still at risk, Wall Street bankers are at the head of the line for H1N1 vaccine," Blunt said. “The federal government continues to demonstrate that it cannot manage distribution of this vaccine. This Administration is sending some Wall Street companies as many vaccines as hospitals are receiving, and Missouri families are not getting their fair share," he added.

"The Obama Administration should send Wall Street’s doses to Missouri, where expectant mothers, children and others vulnerable to the H1N1 virus are not guaranteed access to the vaccine. Moms and kids first," Blunt continued.
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"President Obama called this pandemic a ‘national emergency,’ but the federal government continues to fail at one of its most basic responsibilities," Blunt said.

MO. DEMOCRATIC PARTY RESPONDS:
"Congressman Blunt is using a public safety issue to run from his 12 year Washington insider record of supporting corporate special interests on Wall Street," said Brian Zuzenak, Executive Director of the Missouri Democratic Party.

"Just this year, Blunt voted for a $1 million earmark for potato research in Idaho, Oregon and Washington that could have paid for 50,000 flu vaccines – enough to inoculate the entire city of Joplin, MO," added Zuzenak.

Blunt Blames Obama For Vaccine Shortage and Dems Pounce

TALENT ALSO QUESTIONS VACCINE TIMING

Congressman Roy Blunt blamed the Obama administration Wednesday for failing to ensure widespread availability of H1N1 vaccines across the country at a time when Missouri only has about a quarter of the total amount of vaccine it needs.

"The federal government has clearly failed to meet a basic responsibility to move quickly to ensure the availability of H1N1 vaccines," Blunt said in a statement. "Congress needs to be asking serious questions about why the vaccine isn’t yet widely available, even though we’ve known for six months that we needed to be fully prepared," he added.

The Missouri Democratic Party quickly noted that Blunt voted against a supplemental appropriation bill this year, which included $7.65 billion dollars to help the government prepare for the H1N1 pandemic. Here's the vote: Vote 348, 6/16/09].

"Congressman Blunt has turned a public safety issue into a political football and once again he’s on the attack with no real solutions of his own," said Brian Zuzenak, Chair of the Missouri Democratic Party, in a statement.

"The American people expect the federal government to protect them in the face of a pandemic," Blunt said. "If the current administration cannot manage what is a basic responsibility of the federal government, how can they be expected to micro-manage doctor-patient relationships? Is this what we can expect from government-run health care?," he added.

Zuzenak fired back: "The real outrage is that Congressman Blunt voted against funding to fight H1N1 and prepare the public, and then has the nerve to act outraged at preparedness efforts."

Earlier in the day, former Sen. Jim Talent also questioned why H1N1 vaccines weren't available before school started. Talent's newly formed group, American Freedom and Enterprise Foundation, issued a release saying the current shortage underscores "the severe lack of U.S. preparedness in responding to pandemics, whether through natural disease transmission or manmade bioterrorist attacks."

The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, of which Talent serves as vice-chair, also released a video on a new website called http://www.fastervaccines.org/.

"The video takes a light approach to a serious issue," said Talent. "We want the public to know there are better options, and encourage policymakers to have the foresight to invest in them."