.
According to the Huffington Post article, “Swine Flu Vaccine: Banks Getting H1N1 doses Before Many High-Risk Groups,” ” NBC reports that Goldman Sachs has received 200 doses of the vaccine, the same amount as Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Wall Street banks, like many other companies, put in requests for the vaccine but seem to have had something of a leg up on securing doses. “
They also say, ” NBC reports that employees at the New York Stock Exchange, bankers at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and employees at the Federal Reserve have all received swine flu vaccine doses to administer to their employees.”
They also quote NBC’s Dr. Nancy Schnyderman as saying, “”If we know that the distribution is the weak part of this entire thing, why not put doctor’s offices and hospitals at the top of the line, and say to corporate America, no matter who you are, you’re you’re going to have to go through clinics and hospitals like everyone else.”
According to the Business Week article, “New York Business gets H1N1 Vaccine,” “Citigroup has been supplied with 1,200 units and Goldman with 200, says Jessica Scaperotti, press secretary for the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.”
According to the article,”Swine Flu Politics: Health Reform Takes Hits Over Flu Vaccine,” a spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union said, “It’s obscene that Wall Street bankers think they are entitled to private shipments of H1N1 vaccinations while healthcare workers, pregnant women, and other at-risk Americans are either waiting in line for hours or getting turned away because of shortages.”
I am a supporter of the administrations goals but this is a public relations fiasco. The public is already up-in-arms about the government bailing out the banks when they were the ones who caused the financial meltdown. I believe that the bailout was regrettable but necessary. Now we read that the banks are spending millions of our money to lobby against banking reform and tighter regulations. Given the lobbying power and influence of the banking, insurance and pharmaceutical industries, the public has lost effective control of our government. We read of the many millions of dollars that these industries donate to the campaigns of politicians of both parties.
It stretches the imagination to believe that the politicians are not beholden to a large degree to these companies, because without the money they can’t get re-elected.
The fact that these bankers and brokers don’t have to stand in line at swine flu clinics is a public relations fiasco. It’s like their time is so much more valuable than ours and we are second class citizens.
The public is turned away from hospitals because they don’t have the vaccine while Wall Street has received hundreds of doses. The perception may be worse than the reality but in this case the perception is horrific. Does Obama really represent “Change We Can Believe In?”
Sources:
Chris Good/ “Swine Flu Politics: Health Reform Takes Hits Over Flu Vaccine”/politics.theatlantic.com
“Swine Flu Vaccine: Banks Getting H1N1 doses Before Many High-Risk Groups.”huffingtonpost.com
Esme E Deprez/”New York Business Get H1N1 Vaccine.”/Businessweek.com
