2006-05-28

Tamiflu

My aunt is seriously considering buying enough Tamiflu now to hold her over should there be a bird flu pandemic. Her doctor has refused to give her a prescription but a cousin who is an oncologist probably will be happy to. Personally I don't think she should be stockpiling the stuff, and we engaged ourselves in a lively debate which she refuses to let me record. I will, however, attempt to convince her to type some comments on this post.

Me: Stockpiling is unfair because if someone cannot afford to stockpile and they get infected there may not be any Tamiflu left, while those who stockpile may not get infected and therefore may never need it.

Her: But Roche plans to make enough for everyone in the world.

Me: If they make enough for everybody, why do you need to stockpile it? If not, then who gets medication should be decided by who needs it, not by who can pay for it before the epidemic even reaches the continent.

Unfortunately, right about there she left the room, so no more dialogue. But the saddest thing is that she isn't really doing anything wrong by wanting to stockpile. Inevitably, those who don't stockpile will be unsafe. This is the prisoner's dilemma. Altogether it shouldn't be done, but individually everyone feels that they have to do it to survive.

P.S. Please comment on this.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't blame your aunt. This is a dog eat dog world and will become more so if there is a bird flu pandemic. We all need to look out for ourselves and not rely on the fair system you suggested. It's very idealistic: it sounds nice, but why wait around for it to appear?

Anschel said...

Than you finally for commenting!

It's not idealistic, it's the way medicatioon works in most European countries.

Anonymous said...

My name is Mike Conlin and i would like to show you my personal experience with Tamiflu.

I am 26 years old. Have been on Tamiflu for 5 days now. This stuff ROCKS. I was running a 104 Fever ... felt like I was doing to die, was snapping at everyone, etc. I got home and took my first dose along with a dose of Robotussin for my cough. I woke up 3 hours later and my fever dropped from 103.7 to 99.3. It fluctuated a little after that but remained under 100. Body Aches were gone. I was sweating like a mad man but that was probably the fever breaking.

I have experienced some of these side effects-
Mild nausea .. almost puked on first dose. Also had mental fog going on. Concentration was difficult but my doctor forwarned me it makes you 'loopy'.

I hope this information will be useful to others,
Mike Conlin