My response to President Bush’s proposal to involve the U.S. military in control of an influenza pandemic could be described as “extreme dismay.”
The president has used the recent hurricane disasters to lobby Congress for a greater role of the military on domestic soil, seeking to obviate the Posse Comitatus Act. Plans for military intervention to enforce quarantine in a flu outbreak is yet another example of such opportunism. This approach may cost the country way more than it is worth.
This country has abysmal preparedness for any sort of pandemic, a pathetic stockpile of the antiviral drug Tamiflu and no apparent plans for amplified vaccine production and public health education. Prevention of a large-scale public health crisis is clearly a role for government: as much as we would like to participate in our own health care, we as patients simply can’t call up and order medical supplies, coordinate health care providers and educate other citizens.
The hurricane damage in New Orleans illustrates what happens when a worst-case scenario is allowed to develop with plans only for control once it’s out of control. The administration should save taxpayer dollars and lives by ordering conservative prevention measures before facing an inevitable outbreak. It beats parking soldiers in front of homes and preventing sick people from receiving potentially life-saving health care.
Monica Van der Vieren
Snohomish
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