Blog:DVD

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s media blitz on U.S. healthcare reform has prompted charges that he is risking overexposure, but the very public offensive could be a perfect prescription for his top domestic priority.

Since September 7, Obama has made a nationally televised address to a rare joint session of Congress and held rallies in Ohio, Minnesota and Maryland to promote his healthcare agenda, an issue that could be a defining one for his presidency.

His run of media interviews includes an unprecedented five that will air on morning TV talkshows on Sunday and he will court late-night viewers on Monday as the only guest on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS. (more…)

On a visit to his doctor last week for a blood-pressure check, Neil Johnson, a former mortgage lender, dutifully got his annual flu shot. Having suffered from flu in the past—”you ache, you cough…you have fever all over”—he wanted to make sure to get his shot early.

The Journal Report
See the complete Encore report.
But Mr. Johnson, an 81-year-old resident of an assisted-living facility in Sandy Springs, Ga., will have to wait quite a while before he can roll up his sleeve for a vaccine against this season’s best-known virus: the H1N1 swine flu. People age 65 and older are nearly last in line for that shot.

Older Americans are normally at the front of the queue for shots against the seasonal flu viruses that circulate every fall and winter, and public-health officials and doctors strongly urge them to get one each year. There’s little wonder why: An estimated 36,000 people die in the U.S. every year from the seasonal flu, and 90% of them are 65 or older. (more…)

The twins’ anguished mum – who also had no idea of the peril – demanded to know why the popular children’s spot was not quarantined.

Gemma echoed her, declaring: “I am disgusted. No child should ever have to suffer like this. We deserve answers from the farm and the Health Protection Agency about this horrific bug.”

She and husband Chris, 26, took Alfie and his six-year-old sister to Godstone Farm and Playbarn in Surrey as a treat on the August bank holiday weekend. (more…)