Newspapers review Bush pandemic plan

Editorials:

The Charlotte Observer: "[I]t's one thing to have a plan and quite another to have the capacity to carry it out." The plan "depends on citizens seeking and getting medical help when flu symptoms crop up," but "millions of Americans lack health care coverage."

The Greensboro News & Record: "Stockpiling drugs doesn't amount to preparedness."

Opinion Pieces

Daniel Hollander, UCLA professor of medicine, in the Los Angeles Times: "Once again, President Bush is misinforming the public," because there is "no effective vaccine against bird flu, ... no proven therapy" and "no proof that the present bird flu virus can be transmitted from person to person." He concludes, "It is time to stop misinforming the public and time to stop fanning mass hysteria."

Marsha Mercer, in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "If we can't get shots to Americans for the ordinary flu that comes every fall, what will happen if, and more likely when, the dreaded bird flu arrives?" She continues, "The government's plan relies on several assumptions -- that people will cooperate, that they'll accept rationing of drugs, that they'll stay at home and stay calm. That requires people to trust their government."