Swine flu?

EDITOR:

H1N1 is in all the news but I havet seen that Baxter International Inc. (BAX) on Aug. 28, 2007 filed a patent for producing a long list of viruses including H1N1 before the infection was known world wide.

On March 5, 2009 BAX patent was granted just in time for production of a vaccine against H1N1 swine flu virus, a virus that had never been known to exist.

On April 25, 2009, WHO announced it was working with BAX to develop a vaccine to stem an outbreak of deadly swine flu in Mexico.

U.S. Secretary of Health Services Kathleen Sebelius signed a decree granting vaccine makers total legal immunity from any lawsuits that result from any new "swine flu" vaccine.

Question 1: Why ask for a patent on a vaccine more than a year before anyone knew of H1N1?

Question 2: If the vaccine you develop is safe, why do you need immunity from lawsuits?

What better way to get people in line for vaccinations than keep repeating that there is a shortage? (Remember, shortage of TP, etc. in past?)

Samuel H. Dupuis

Wellington