Let's be realistic (Score 2, Interesting)

This bird flu stuff is scary shit. The last time a virus similar to it (the 1918 flu) mutated into its human form, tens of millions of people died. When (not if) the bird flu mutates into its human form, that many, and more, are at risk of death from it.

This is not an abstract statistic. Real people, your friends and family included, will get the virus, have fever, cough blood and die within a few days... simple as that. I've heard that 98 of 100 will survive the bird flu pandemic... seemingly not bad, but do you realize what that means? Think of a hundred people you know about (I'm sure you can) now think of the bird flu randomly killing any two of those people... are you ok with that? This is the future we are going to be dealing with all too soon.

This is why any discussion as to what incentive there is for drug companies to develop vaccination to the bird flu seems so ridiculous to me. First off, bird flu (when it happens) will only last for one season... no matter how you slice it, there could never be any real market (as there is with AIDS) to continuously fend off bird flu long-term... it is an immediate, one-time emergency. Second, with the first point in mind, there doesn't always have to be a financial benefit to making a life-saving vaccine. There are plenty of ways of making money on other drugs that do provide continuous streams of revenue (like heartburn pills, anti-depressants... almost anything, really). Here's an idea for the drug companies: relinquish your patent, work with the government willingly to save lives from this global pandemic. Let taxes offset the cost of production and offset the rest of the production by jacking up the prices on your other, non-critical drugs. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I'd gladly welcome a kick in my taxes and pay an extra $10 per box of Prilosec (or whatnot) to know that my loved ones and I will be safe from this coming pandemic.

Food for thought: The children and the old people will be the safest from the bird flu because of their weaker immune systems. It will be people in the prime of their lives who will die the most quickly and violently because the bird flu attacks the lungs and a healthy immune system, in trying to kill the bird flu, will also attack your lungs! This is a gruesome prospect, the likes of which the most of us have (hopefully) never before had to deal with.

I sincerely believe that we as a people can prepare for and prevent this, but first we have to make the decision to do so.