Public Health

Government employees tend to be easy fodder for mockery. That is particularly true when the ribbing suits the needs of political candidates trying to appear vigilant about the growth of government. In her quest to become governor of California, for example, Republican Meg Whitman has repeatedly teed off on those who get their paychecks from the public. The former businesswoman derided bureaucrats who "rarely have the desire to think things through." She lamented the employment of "mid-level bureaucrats" as though they were buffing their nails at the DMV while the rest of us stewed in line.

Los Angeles County's free H1N1 flu clinics opened last week amid public health officials' promises to aggressively vaccinate people at highest risk, especially the uninsured. Instead, overwhelmed clinic staff began vaccinating many people who were not supposed to be first in line for protection, officials said Tuesday. "We thought it was important to get to as many people as quickly as possible," said Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the county's director of public health. "We were assuming that the private sector was going to be getting a lot more vaccine a lot faster than they did."

Eastman Kodak Co. has said sayonara to about 22,000 workers over the last five years. Verizon Communications Inc. says it will have handed about 16,000 workers their hats by Dec. 31 -- and it is already looking ahead to the possibility of more layoffs next year. So it took more than a little chutzpah for the chief executives of both companies to go before reporters the other day to denounce a government health insurance plan as being bad for America. Where do they expect all the people they've thrown into the unemployment line to get coverage?

At least 25 public health agencies have received less than the state average of 45% of their order of H1N1 flu vaccines due to distribution problems, state officials said Wednesday. "It was supposed to be a short-term problem, but it has stretched out," said Mike Sicilia, spokesman for the state Department of Public Health. Federal officials bought the vaccines and contracted with a division of San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. to distribute them nationally. Some county agencies received as little as 31% of the vaccines they ordered.

If H1N1 flu vaccine shortages persist, California may not be able to vaccinate those most at risk by the end of December, public health officials said Thursday, amid furor over how the vaccine has been distributed so far. "We believe by and large the vaccine is being given to those who should receive it," said Dr. Gil Chavez, an epidemiologist with the California Department of Public Health, but "we may not be able to meet the target if the vaccine...

As concern spreads about H1N1 flu, a new survey of California voters found that while most consider the vaccine safe, a majority had no plans to get vaccinated. The poll also found that blacks and Latinos are far more likely than other groups to say they believe the vaccine could be unsafe. Only 5% of those surveyed said they already had been inoculated, a figure that remained consistent across income groups. Of the rest, 52% said they did not plan to get vaccinated. Among the 40% who said they wanted the vaccine, 12% said they already had attempted to find it but failed.

Glendale wanted a new image, something fresh that would attract new business. So last month it hired a marketing firm to help point city officials in the right direction. But the optimism of the undertaking was undermined days later when city officials received a report that showed the city has one of the most advanced drug problems in Los Angeles County. And though the city report cites 2005 figures, police officers who patrol its streets say there's little evidence that the drug problem has loosened its grip.

Very few African Americans have used Los Angeles County's free H1N1 vaccine clinics, public health officials told county leaders Tuesday, raising concerns about outreach to a community that, as a group, has a high risk for serious flu complications. Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the county's public health director, expressed disappointment in the turnout by blacks but said he did not think the problem was a lack of clinic sites. "Some surveys suggest it's lack of willingness to come forward," Fielding said, "and some of that is historic."

Louisiana lawmakers Tuesday threatened the Food and Drug Administration with budget consequences if the agency followed through on a plan to ban Gulf Coast oysters harvested during warm weather that are not treated with antibacterial technology. Industry advocates said that the FDA's plan would imperil 3,500 Gulf Coast oystering jobs by imposing heavy technology costs, and that the 15 annual deaths attributed to eating untreated raw oysters were not excessive considering the volume consumed.

Smoking bans in public buildings, workplaces, even at some outdoor venues are commonplace. And becoming more common is the practice of barring smokers from employment. But this approach is unfair and may have unintended consequences that do more harm than good, say researchers in an essay published in the journal Tobacco Control. Policies prohibiting the hiring of smokers have become much more popular in the past year, a co-author of the report, Dr. Michael Siegel, said in an interview.