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The Swine Flu Affair Decision-Making on a Slippery Disease (1978) / Chapter Skim
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5 Organizing
Pages 27-31

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From page 27...
... Donald Millar, to head a planning task force. On April 2, at a meeting with state health officials, Sencer introduced Millar as "manager" of the prospective "National Influenza Immunization Program." Yet a week later in Washington, with funds at hand, Cooper by press release conferred the same title on Dr.
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From page 28...
... But Cooper would have none of it. No new organization could be built in time, "Flu season would have come and gone." In this he had concurrence from a crucial ally, with whom on other subjects he had often tangled horns, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, William Morrill, known in PHS as the Department's "other strong man." Cooper also thought -- and Morrill seems to have agreed -- that a committee under Mathews' wing would be a hopeless case and a committee meeting daily an abomination.
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From page 29...
... And how carefully would he attend to the concerns of the Assistant Secretary -- Sencer was not noted for that. So Cooper sought to limit CDC to tasks he recognized it could do better than other existing agencies: encourage planning by the states, set standards and allot administrative funds to them, purchase the vaccine for them, and conduct surveillance.
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From page 30...
... Local conditions had to be allowed to govern how the vaccinations would actually be conducted. CDC could only defray extra costs and offer free advice; it did not try to impose tight standards on state plans.
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From page 31...
... As the spring wore on, the biggest of these became liability. With the Secretary on the sidelines, Cooper at the top, White House liaison arranged, and CDC or BoB doing the work, internal organization from mid-April on was relatively clear, even coherent, as perceived inside the program, and apparently as seen from the state capitols.
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Key Terms

  • state plans
  • state health
  • flu program
  • washington press
  • senate april

  • reads summer
  • recruiting staff
  • offer free
  • mentwide committee
  • strong possibility

  • arrangement cut
  • delayed getting
  • public information
  • possibility exists
  • achievable objectives

  • perceived inside
  • donald millar
  • related research
  • own involvement
  • notably state

  • intrusive complication
  • introduced millar
  • senate acted
  • ate counterpart
  • cooper added

  • tangled horns
  • sencer covered
  • swine influenza
  • swift start
  • legal issues


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