Originally published October 27 2004
Top Democrat says documents about vaccine shortage were withheld until election
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Was there a cover-up surrounding the flu vaccine shortage? According to one prominent Democrat, there was: the Bush Administration held back key documents about the flu vaccine shortage until after the election.
-
A senior House Democrat charged Tuesday that the Bush administration was refusing to release documents about the flu vaccine shortage until after the election.
- "What is happening is obvious," said Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Government Reform.
- "The administration is trying to delay the release of the vaccine documents until after the election.
- Waxman and Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, a Republican and chairman of the committee, asked the Food and Drug Administration two weeks ago for documents related to the vaccine shortage.
- Among them were reports and correspondence related to a 2003 inspection of Chiron Corp.'s flu vaccine plant in England.
- British health authorities temporarily shut down the plant this month because of contamination problems, which left the United States without nearly half of its supply for the coming flu season.
- Chiron is one of only two flu vaccine suppliers for the United States.
- In a statement, the acting FDA commissioner, Lester Crawford, said that Davis had assured him that taking more time to meet the document request would not slow the committee's investigation.
- He said the agency was "actively and diligently" trying to gather the documents.
- Robert White, a spokesman for Davis, said the chairman had given the FDA more time because the agency was busy trying to come up with more sources of vaccine.
- "Our priority now is public health, not election-year politics," White said.
- "He expects to receive all of the relevant material from the FDA in the very near future."
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml