Remember this quote from our prime minister Gordon Brown?
The UK is one of the best prepared countries to deal with swine flu and “all action necessary” will be taken to stop its spread (april 2009).
So did Brown take 'all action necessary' to stop the spread of swineflu? Clearly not since we have the virus running freely throughout the UK!
Was it possible to stop the spread of swineflu? I don't know, I am not an expert! But Brown made these claims to make himself look good, to look like a PM in control of events, a PM who can make a difference, unlike the lightweights (as he calls them) in opposition.
In reality we are now the third worst country in the world with swine flu and the government itself has now said that there will soon be a rate of 100,000 cases of people a week catching swineflu. Quite different from 'all action necessary will be taken'. So who is the lightweight now?
There will be a vaccine available soon, it is due to be released by the end of the summer, just in time for the round of flu injections that the elderly and susceptible people (of which I am one - susceptible that is!) receive every year. Will it help? Probably.
But Brown has put himself in a position where he is dependant on other people to rescue the situation, in this case those people are in Germany I believe (which is where the vaccination against the virus is being prepared).
Brown does seem to be politically very naive. He makes statement that often sound OK but they are often soundbites only, they are clearly not thought through. And then he gets caught up with trying to salvage the situation which tends to make him and the government look incompetent.
Lets hope that these people ouside the UK who are preparing the vaccine can get it to us in sufficient quantities before the flu season arrives.
(vaccine won't affect me, whole family had swineflu last week, not over it yet!)