Swine Flu: A National Emergency?

Today President Obama declared H1N1 swine flu a national public health emergency. I was a little alarmed when I saw the headlines announcing this development today. There haven't been any significant changes in the status of the virus or the pandemic, so why is it a national emergency now?

It turns out this declaration is really to help health care officials deal with the pandemic more easily rather than a result of any changes in the situation. In declaring a national emergency, President Obama gave the chief of the US Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, power to bypass federal laws in regards to how health care sites operate. Emergency rooms may be able to operate clinics away from hospitals (such as in schools and parking lots) to help prevent the spread of the virus to people who need to seek treatment for other problems. It also changes how hospitals can handle financial matters - requiring less paperwork so they can see patients more quickly and allowing federal reimbursement for patients treated off-site.

This move comes after the news last week that the H1N1 swine flu vaccines have been much more delayed than officials had hoped. So far only about 11 millions doses of the vaccine have been shipped to providers. This is a far cry from the estimated 120 million doses they had hoped to have out by mid-October. Revised estimates are now that 50 million doses could be available by mid-November and 150 million doses available sometime in December.

CDC officials have also announced that over 1000 Americans have already died from the virus this year, including nearly 100 children. While these numbers may seem alarming, they also believe that "many millions" of Americans have already had the virus.