Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Excellent Flu/Pandemic policy proposals

Tyler Cowen has put together a forty-page national policy proposal for coping with a possible pandemic. It begins sensibly with an obvious reality deriving from our past experience with "Swine" Flu and others that turned out to be less dramatic than advertised:

The single most important thing we can do for a pandemic--whether avian flu or not--is to have well-prepared local health care systems. We should prepare for pandemics in ways that are politically sustainable and remain useful even if an avian flu pandemic does not occur.
A quick look at history will reveal that those who have raised concerns have been punished for having done so when their concerns proved to be only that: concerns. This is an obvious mistake to be avoided.

The rest is equally compelling. Lets hope this proposal gets serious study backed by action at the federal, state and local levels.

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