Frist defends flu shots for Capitol colleagues

By Matt Gouras
The Associated Press

JOHN PARTIPILO / AP Sen. Bill Frist leaves a voting booth in Belle Meade, Tenn., yesterday. Frist said lawmakers who got flu shots in his office were either following federal guidelines or their own doctors' recommendations.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said yesterday that lawmakers on Capitol Hill who received flu shots in his office were either following federal guidelines or their doctors' recommendations.

Frist was responding to criticism that his office was used as a makeshift clinic to administer shots to lawmakers two days after the government asked healthy adults to forgo vaccinations because of a nationwide shortage.

"They keep mentioning my name as if I had done something exceptional, when I hadn't," Frist said after casting his ballot during early voting in Tennessee.

He claimed the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry is blowing the issue out of proportion for "political gain" and suggested trial lawyers, such as Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, contributed to the shortage with lawsuits against vaccination makers.

The Kerry campaign noted that Frist and other GOP luminaries were receiving the shots while the Bush administration was telling the rest of the country to stay calm.

Frist, a physician, said he received his own inoculation before new federal guidelines were announced Oct. 5. Those guidelines urged healthy people to reserve remaining flu vaccine for older adults and young children who are most at risk for flu complications.

Frist also noted that one-third of Senate members are 65 or older, which is within the guidelines for receiving the vaccine.

Some members of Congress who received shots said Capitol physician Dr. John Eisold recommended they be vaccinated because they frequently come into contact with children and older people, and could spread, as well as catch, the flu.

"I think a case can be made that you don't want to be infecting other people," Frist said.
 
Other lawmakers declined the shots to avoid the perception of preferential treatment, and legislation was introduced that would require Eisold to give remaining vaccine to the Health and Human Services Department.

President Bush, Kerry and Edwards have not received shots. Vice President Dick Cheney, who has had heart problems, did receive a vaccination.

Frist said the nation needs to increase its capacity to make the flu vaccine. "We've driven manufacturing of flu vaccines overseas," he said.

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