Avian flu

The (Independence) Examiner

The federal government is ready to move ahead and order millions of doses of vaccine to protect against the avian flu.

This is good news. The bird flu poses a potentially huge risk. When a new type of flu makes the jump from animals to people, the results can be devastating. Around the world, 50 million people died in the flu pandemic of 1918.

Test results announced over the weekend indicate that one new vaccine will be effective, clearing the way for the government to order more.

The main obstacle is the production capacity of the handful of companies that still make the vaccines.

Let's hope that there's no repeat of last year's fiasco, when regular flu shot shortages caused many to forgo their usual vaccinations and then the country ended up with unused vaccine and people needlessly exposed to risk.

Tens of thousands of Americans die of flu every year, and the avian flu would add a much larger problem on top of that.

This is a twofold effort: Get enough vaccine produced and distributed, and educate the public about the need to take action. Both are big challenges.