Avian Flu, the Next Big Shamdemic?

Avian Flu: Is the Government Ready for an Epidemic?

Piggy-backing off the insanity prevalent in the New Orleans area, ABC news runs the latest panic piece invoking apocalyptic images designed to elicit mass-fear and terror. Recently we have had SARS, West Nile, and a whole host of 'killer diseases' posing the newest threat to the public at large.

The article starts off with -

"It could kill a billion people worldwide, make ghost towns out of parts of major cities, and there is not enough medicine to fight it. It is called the avian flu." (Cue music from the movie Halloween.)

"Gasp....Oh no!" we are supposed to say. "Whatever will we do?" Never mind the fact that it has killed only 57 people so far, Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow on global health policy at the Council on Foreign Relations has something to say. "Right now in human beings, it kills 55 percent of the people it infects, That makes it the most lethal flu we know of that has ever been on planet Earth affecting human beings." I guess we take our public health cues from the CFR now.

Not to be confused with a slow response kind of individual, President Bush "agreed to stockpile $100 million worth of a still-experimental vaccine".

The Real Effect
Let's get real here for a second. (No pun intended)

.000000016% of the human population has had the Avian Flu and of that a little more than 1/2 of those have died. This is hardly an "epidemic" let alone the dreaded "pandemic" that we keep hearing about. I think it is safe to assume/conclude a few things -

1. We know little about how the 'Avian flu' would affect the general population.
2. There are few/no known cases in the U.S. (Assumed)
3. Therefore the response to "stockpile" 1/10 of a BILLION dollars worth of "experimental" vaccines can safely be construed as an over-reaction at best and most likely, panic-pandering.

Edited for context, appearance and labels on 3/5/2010.