Anyone know who's profiting from all these flu advertising, um, reporting?

[jobycom]

Just curious, but the mass histeria the media is obviously trying to create over the flu vaccine this year is way out of bounds with the predictions of how bad the outbreak will be. If you listen closely, the media will sometimes add at the end of the story that this year's season COULD be worse than average. Now some are talking about an epidemic.

At first I thought it was just a case of the media being too lazy to write a new story so falling back on the annual flu vaccine shortage story. But they've hyped it beyond reason, visiting clinics, micing people sneezing and coughing for their clever little background noises, and pulling out the big gun of terrifying parents by talking about dead kids (and yes, that does work on me, too).

And then there was the news this morning. 100,000 new vaccines on the way, and 150,000 more pediatric vaccines to follow. This after stories earlier this week that it would be impossible to get more vaccines until after the flu season ended.

Who's making money from this? It's all serving to create a fad and drive up prices, and no one has yet demonstrated that this year's season is any worse than any other. Is this coming from Bush, the CDC, the corporate media itself? Anyone know? Someone is profiting from a deliberate attempt to increase desire and cost for this product.

And for the record, anyone who recognizes my name knows I'm not a tin-hatter (I even believe Oswald shot Kennedy). I just see an advertising campaign and forced fad to rival Spuds McKenzie.