... kind of fitting to some Australians


Howard rescues Gardasil from Abbott poison pill


IT took 15 years for Gardasil to make a national hero of its creator, Ian Frazer. But it took just three days for the world's first cancer-preventing vaccine to make a national dill of federal Health Minister Tony Abbott.

On Wednesday, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee decided that Gardasil was too expensive and, just maybe, not what it was cracked up to be anyway.

So the gatekeeper of the federal drugs budget rejected Gardasil for PBS subsidy and the application by the drug's promoter, CSL, for a three-stage national immunisation program.

By Thursday morning, as he flailed about trying to justify his department's dimness, the Health Minister took to the airwaves, passing on PBAC's concerns about the efficacy of Gardasil and even floating the bizarre idea that a misplaced confidence in the effectiveness of the vaccine might actually result in "an increase in cancer rates".

It took just another 24 hours for the Prime Minister to put an end to the nonsense. Yesterday, John Howard, alert as ever to the public mood, delivered sparkling prime ministerial endorsement to Gardasil along with a clear direction to Minister Abbott that the immunisation program should proceed. And pronto.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/howard-rescues-gardasil-from-abbott-poison-pill/story-e6frg9lx-1111112503504



What else have Australians forgotten about Mr Abbott?