The Lords get the vaccine while the peasants wait in line. What could be more natural or fair?

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked Health and Human Service (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to investigate why the Center for Disease Control (CDC) approved the distribution of the H1NI vaccine to Wall Street firms at a time when the vaccine is unavailable to most Americans.

Recent news reports indicate 13 companies, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Time Warner, have been cleared to receive the vaccine.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today, “Although CREW has been unable to uncover the demographic makeup of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase, it seems safe to assume the vast majority of their employees are not pregnant women, infants and children, young adults up to 24 years old, and healthcare workers.”

No, seriously.

Via CBS:

If you've been diagnosed "probable" or "presumed" 2009 H1N1 or "swine flu" in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu.

In fact, you probably didn’t have flu at all. That's according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS News investigation.

[...]The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico.

I've had the flu before, and as someone with chronic asthma problems, punctuated by the occasional bout of bronchitis or pneumonia to relieve the monotony, I'm always first in line for the flu shot du jour. Same for the swine flu shot/mist when it makes it to my town -- wild elephants will not be able to keep me away.

I'm truly baffled by people who would rather get the flu than suffer through a momentary jab with a miniscule sharpened object, but wev.

This, however, I did not know:

"CDC does not recommend 'swine flu parties....'"

Ted Rall tries to buy Tamiflu. The dialog is great, but this line is my favorite:

[PHARMACIST:] "It's complicated, especially for doctors."

Yay!

NOTE Via Susie. Oh, and Ted mentions Health Insurance Plan (HIP) of New York. And not in a good way. Anybody else have experience with them?