This past week has been extremely interesting for those who follow the news about pandemic influenza.
We’ve had a report from the Council of Europe concluding that the World Health Organization (WHO), EU agencies and national governments’ handling of the pandemic led to a “waste of large sums of public money, and unjustified scares and fears about the health risks faced by the European public”.
We’ve also seen the international splash (as previously reported at Croakey) from the BMJ investigation into problems with the WHO’s management of experts’ commercial ties to companies that have made huge profits from the pandemic.
So it’s rather interesting to examine the media reports that the Influenza Specialist Group has been sending to its experts over the past week. The ISG is funded by industry but many of the experts involved like to stress the independence of the organisation.
However, it seems that the following media summaries present quite a selective picture of the news; they tend to play up the stories that raise concerns about influenza and are positive about influenza vaccination and pandemic policies, and scarcely mention the news splashes from the Council of Europe and BMJ reports. The WHO’s response to the BMJ’s charge gets quite a prominent run, however.
One of the stories highlighted is about research commissioned by one of the vaccine manufacturers that sponsors the ISG. This looks like a case of the PR machine spruiking the PR machine.
Herewith are the headlines of the ISG media summaries from June 7-11.
Subject: ISG Influenza Media Update 7 June 2010
In this edition:
1. Antiviral stockpile off-limits for influenza (attached)
2. WHO says H1N1 influenza pandemic continues
3. Extra mutations help influenza evade drug
4. Influenza cases rising: MOH
5. Health site puts influenza on the map
6. Desi swine influenza vaccine launched
Subject: ISG Influenza Media Update 8 June 2010
In this edition:
1. WHO’s secret influenza advisers (attached)
2. Get influenza shot now, mother-to-be urges
3. Swine influenza makes an unwelcome return
Subject: ISG Influenza Media Update 9 June 2010
In this edition:
1. Pandemic (H1N1) 2009- update 103
2. Top cold & influenza myths busted (attached)
3. WHO: Pharma interests didn’t influence influenza verdict
4. Avian influenza – situation in China
5. Nurses shun swine influenza jab
6. I think that swine influenza is still going to cause trouble, says virology professor
ISG Influenza Media Update 10 June 2010
In this edition:
1. A flu still believe vaccine myths
2. Study finds H1N1 associated with serious health risks for pregnant women
3. WHO defends its response to H1N1 outbreak
4. Man influenza leaves you cold
5. Vaccination fever rises; Falling vaccination rates are causing fears of the return of dreaded diseases
Subject: ISG Influenza media update 11 June 2010
In this edition:
1. WHO Director-General’s letter to BMJ editors (attached)
2. The international response to the influenza pandemic: WHO responds to critics (attached)
3. The cause of a spike in febrile convulsions among young children may never be known
4. 2.8m unused swine influenza doses to be dumped
5. WHO tweets about swine influenza
6. Lessons of H1N1: Preach less, reveal more
It is becoming more and more difficults for those experts associated with the ISG to argue that they are not part of an industry-wide marketing campaign.
