Just One Sentence

The Return

I apologize to my reader who is disappointed (perhaps) that I have not blogged in a long time, since about the time I actually reported to my job after a long and useful orientation period. These last six weeks have been filled with meetings, position papers, speech writing, testimony vetting, and diversions from all that to attend briefings on many other political affairs from international policy (such as how did Europe get the structure it has now as a result of the breakup of the Soviet Union and their sphere of influence in Eastern Europe) to ocean acidification to a riveting presentation on the microclimate changes, derived from global changes, that can be modeled now with powerful new computer programs). Though as busy as before, I must take the time to relate one sentence I heard in a meeting yesterday.

I was able to attend a meeting of top health officials from the US and UK. The meeting was less than 30 min (no meeting with an Asst Secretary lasts long—they shuttle from one to another all day), and each official discussed how their respective governments and departments work with respect to public health. The American briefly explained the portfolio of that office, and then the UK minister gave the corresponding UK overview.

When the UK minister dealt with their policy on immunization and vaccines, he said matter-of-factly and with no nuance of any sort, “In Britain, vaccine production is under my office as Britain believes that the public health should not be subject to the making of a profit.”

Wow. Just two blocks away the Congress, and the entire nation, is arguing the minutest details of a 2000-page bill, and this minister sums up their approach in one simple sentence.

They settled this question more than 60 years ago in the UK--no one should profit from public health; while we argue whether an insurance company should be allowed to make obscene profits (as if it were an investment bank) or merely outrageous profits.