# 786
While the prevailing sentiment on most of flu forums is that our Federal government, and governments around the world, haven't done enough to inform the public of the pandemic threat, it should be noted that quite a number of high profile officials and scientists have made very strong statements.
In effect, they've staked their reputations on the idea that a pandemic is a genuine threat, and we need to prepare for it.
Michael Leavitt, Secretary of HHS, has been anything but reticent about speaking of the threat. Last year he held pandemic summits in all 50 states. He has said, innumerable times, that pandemics happen, and we must prepare for the next one.
While to Flubies, that seems perfectly obvious, he has done so at considerable risk to his personal and professional reputation.
If a pandemic doesn't happen, and relatively soon, he will be forever remembered as the HHS Secretary that cried wolf. An unfair charge, given the evidence we have today, but there is little doubt it will happen.
Michael Osterholm, Director of CIDRAP, has been very vocal about his concerns over an impending pandemic, and he too is risking his credibility to warn us.
You can add David Nabarro, Dr. Robert Webster, Laurie Garret, and a host of others. There are powerful voices out there, warning of the threat, and urging us to prepare. And each one is doing so at great professional risk.
Regrettably, we hear very little from the political arena. Most elected officials seem content to allow agency heads to lead this parade, apparently hoping to avoid association with another `false pandemic scare', like the one we saw in 1976.
The public is left confused by all of this. If it were truly important, politicians would be talking about it, wouldn't they? They go on the cable news networks and talk about border issues, Iran, terrorism and every other conceivable threat. But very rarely does an elected official bring up pandemic preparedness.
For many of them, it is a hot potato issue, and the less said about it, the better.
While global warming concerns have been widely adopted by Hollywood celebrities, we hear nothing about pandemic preparedness from them. Global warming may indeed be a threat, but the devastating effects are probably years, perhaps decades, away. A pandemic could wreck global havoc anytime in the next few months or years.
But of course, global warming is an easier stance to take, since most of these celebrities will be long forgotten by the time we know the true extent of the problem.
The on-again, off-again media coverage further complicates the picture. `If it bleeds, it leads' is a maxim of the news industry, and so far, very little about this story fits that criteria. Most of the news, by television standards, is pretty dull. You can show just so many videos of sick chickens. Until bodies start stacking up on the curb, for most of them, it just isn't worth covering.
Newspapers have done a better job than television, and we've seen some sterling reporting by the likes of Helen Branswell and Maryn Mckenna, but these are exceptions, not the rule. The subject is complex, and it requires a bit of a scientific background to cover properly. Most reporters simply aren't up to the task.
Just like politicians, the media doesn't want to be stung by a false alarm. Memories of 1976 are still vibrant in the minds of editors, and besides, there are plenty of juicy stories each day anyway. As long as we have Paris Hilton, Britany Spears, a war in Iraq, and two bitter and ideologically opposed political parties, there really isn't a need to cover bird flu.
They are going to sell their papers, anyway.
For those on the front lines, working hard every day to prepare for what could be the ultimate global crisis, this lack of support must be disheartening. They know what may be coming, they are as vocal about it as they can be, and yet they are essentially voices in the wilderness.
I understand how popular it is to find fault with our government's level of preparation, and some of it is certainly justified. We obviously have a long way to go to be ready for a pandemic.
But we should also take note of just how bold some of our officials have been in their efforts to prepare the nation and the world. They could have sat on the sidelines, and said little.
But they haven't.
Instead they have taken on a horrendous and thankless job, simply because they understand that it needs to be done.
We all hope a pandemic doesn't come, and that this crisis can be averted. No doubt, those who are the most strident in their warnings want, more than anything, to be wrong.
And yet they know if one doesn't come, they will be pilloried for generating fear, and wasting our time and our money. If a pandemic does erupt, any failures during the crisis will be laid at their feet.
Barring a miracle, there is simply no upside to being on the bleeding edge of pandemic preparedness.
Unless, of course, you count saving a nation.
After Y2K passed, and nothing terrible happened, many people blamed computer programmers for raising the alarm. It was, people decided, all for nothing. But they forget the millions of man-hours programmers invested during the years leading up to the year 2000 to avert that crisis.
Their reward for a job well done was to be blamed for their success.
If we avoid a pandemic this time, it will likely be due to the hard work by agencies like the WHO, CDC, HHS, FAO, and OIE who are doing everything they can to contain the virus. No, they aren't perfect. Far from it.
Their efforts are often hindered by limited budgets and International politics. But they are on the front lines, and on the record, and that is far more than most politicians, celebrities, and the media can say.
Hopefully, if they succeed, and we avert this crisis, we will think of a more suitable reward than the one we gave the IT community in the spring of 2000.
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