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In a bold move the City Council of Toronto voted today to purchase enough tamiflu to treat up 13,000 municipal employees in a pandemic. With 24,000 employees, plus thousands more police, firefighters, and transit drivers, questions as to who will receive this antiviral have yet to be resolved.
This from the National Post.
City to buy $1.5M worth of Tamiflu
Staff to be treated in event of flu pandemic
Allison Hanes, National Post
Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Toronto city council signed off yesterday on the purchase of $1.5-million worth of antiviral medication to treat up to 13,000 municipal employees in the case of a possible flu pandemic, despite budgetary constraints and amid lingering questions over who will be eligible to receive it and how.
Council was told Toronto is the only major Canadian city stockpiling its own supply of influenza-fighting drugs for its employees after learning from the SARS epidemic.
The decision follows the recommendation of Toronto's medical officer of health, who said Toronto must act now given the long lag time involved in acquiring Tamiflu, which is not a vaccine but one of the key drugs expected to be crucial in the event of an outbreak.
Under questioning from councillors as to the necessity of acting so urgently, David McKeown acknowledged he can't predict if or when a flu pandemic will strike.
"I believe it is a prudent measure to take for an event that is highly likely to occur," Dr. McKeown said, citing research that shows a major -- often lethal--flu virus sweeps the globe every 30 to 40 years.
Council also decided to spend $606,000 to properly store its drug supply in a warehouse.
In total, Toronto could spend up to $5-million stocking drugs to keep the city running in the event of a devastating flu virus.
Although a majority of council voted in favour of procuring the pharmaceuticals, questions swirled yesterday over who among Toronto's 24,000 municipal employees, plus thousands more police, firefighters and transit drivers, would receive the medication and how it would be dispensed.
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