Despite his slow response to the H1N1 crisis, President Barack Obama was able to take time out of campaigning for Jon Corzine and having his family portrait done by Annie Leibovitz to declare H1N1 a national emergency. While I think the CDC has done a good job managing H1N1 in the U.S. (not a great job, just a good job), they have been successful in spite of President Obama’s leadership.
The President’s announcement of a national emergency on H1N1 came on October 23. However, back on May 1, we all recall President Obama’s assessment that he didn’t think H1N1 would be any more severe than the normal influenza season. He did ask HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to do a “worse-case scenario,” but his Administration was reluctant to recognize the true public health crisis early on and to execute the “worst-case scenario” plan.
The President’s lack of experience in public health and his delay in putting the full weight of his Administration behind this disease has lead to a delay in the H1N1 vaccine being fully available. Doubly concerning is the complete lack of planning at the Federal level for how the vaccine should be administered and distributed. President Obama has left it up to the States to figure out distribution – a move that has led to mass confusion and failures in some States.
Since President Obama’s first tentative steps, over 1,000 Americans have died and over 20,000 have been hospitalized by H1N1. There are full outbreaks in 46 of the 50 states. One thing is for certain, the death toll will continue to increase as the epidemic takes hold. While it’s better late than never, I’m glad President Obama is finally starting to take H1N1 seriously.
