Stale vaccines still in use?

Murmurs in the medical community are growing too loud for health officials to ignore. A big pharmaceutical firm supposedly has distributed stale vaccines which were then injected by unsuspecting doctors to children and adults. The firm, which manufactures the drug for two multinationals, is trying to keep it hush-hush. Its warehouse temperature detector had conked out late last month, freezing and ruining the vaccines. It did not act on the matter until the two multinationals issued advisories to internists and pediatricians about the snafu. By which time, it was too late.

The drug maker claims that the stale vaccines were safe, just that they lost efficacy. That didn’t wash, however, with concerned doctors who believe that patients may have been put at risk. The two clients have ordered the firm to recall all the damaged stocks, a sign that something is amiss. Only then did the maker pull out the product from hospitals and drugstores, with promises to replace them soon. To this day, there has been no report if all the damaged vials have been destroyed. Health authorities likewise have made no report on potential health risks to hapless patients.

Health laws hold drug makers accountable for distributing faulty and potentially dangerous preparations. This maker is about to get away with it. Many years back, this company, during a bout with low-capital illness, also got away with a cash infusion from the GSIS, but promptly frittered it away before government employee-contributors could shout "doctor".

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Statin drugs are today’s hot-sellers to lower cholesterol. But Asians have always had a natural cholesterol buster in red yeast rice. Doctors who go for alternative cures aver that the rice variety slashes cholesterol by as much as 40 points in only three months, at far less cost than factory drugs and with no side effects. The findings set American patients scouring Asian stores for red rice, triggering a mini-boom for exporters across the Pacific.

But not for long. America’s big pharmaceutical companies have sued sellers of red yeast rice. Their grounds for it: the grain contains lovastatin, the active ingredient contained in one of the patented cholesterol brands. The judge quite rightly threw out the case at first. Mother Nature cannot be held in violation of US patent laws. But the pharmaceutical fat cats dug deep into their pockets for an appeal focusing on red yeast rice extract. The judge reversed his earlier ruling and, with the bang of the gavel, declared sellers of safe, cheap, natural, unpatentable red yeast extract in breach of federal law. The US-Food and Drug Administration, long criticized for kowtowing to the patent-drug lobby, lost not time in following up the court ruling with a ban on the sale of the extract from all stores, mail-order outlets and all other sources.

Too bad for Americans that their government is taking the law too far. But the court ruling and FDA ban has affected Asians in America as well, for they can no longer buy the extract that proved to prolong the lives and improve the healths of their ancestors. And Philippine makers of red yeast rice extract are hurting too from the lost business.

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This may well be the first response to the Ombudsman’s call for citizens to report graft by text or e-mail. A reader from Bacolod details corrupt practices of a city high school principal, the head teacher and the supply custodian.

The custodian holds the position of Master Teacher-1 although he has not passed the qualifying board exam. Students have noticed that he reports for work late in the morning, then goes home by noon to attend to his welding shop. Yet he receives full pay for his part-time work. He even took home the school’s welding machine for personal use. He has been at it for 20 years, without even once conducting an inventory of the school’s carpentry, electrical and plumbing materials. But he goes to campus on weekends to filch wood, metal, light bulbs, electrical wire and toilet fixtures for his business.

The teacher holds the position of Head Teacher III. She rarely holds classes because, as she often announces, she has "important things to do." Most schooldays find her at the mall by 10 a.m. playing bingo. She then moves to the other mall for more numbers games, from which children are barred. On rare occasions that she’s in campus, she hogs the lone school computer to work on her master’s thesis. She forbids other teachers and the students from using it, lest they mess up her opus.

Why the principal lets them get away with it, despite complaints, is explained by a cozy arrangement. The three happen to constitute the school bidding and purchasing committee. There are no checks and balances since they also comprise the cash and disbursement team. Parents can only guess how much kickbacks the trio divvy up from their purchases, made frequent by their wasteful use of school resources.

But that’s not all. Two male teachers also hardly report for work. One of them is at school more often, but is useless since he is drunk even on mornings. A third male teacher is having an affair with a colleague; his wife has sued them in court. The principal is co-accused for withholding evidence.

The school’s one claim to fame is having a fine marching band. It has won cash awards and citations in several competitions. The principal, his cohorts and the band teacher splurge the cash on all-night drinking parties, while the students may relish only the citations.

This must be the most corrupt public school in Bacolod, if not in RP.

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