A Modest Proposal

Rationing of flu shots has apparently left the United States with a large surplus of vaccine. What's to be done? Here's one opinion:

[A] federal advisory panel Friday recommended the government ease restrictions on the nation's supply and make shots available to everyone 50 and older. The move was prompted by worries all of a sudden that tens of thousands of doses of flu vaccine might go to waste.

I have a better idea. Let's donate surplus vaccine to Asian countries where H5N1 avian flu is rampant, and distribute it to people who work with poultry (as Canada did back in January). Doing so could lessen the chances of human coinfection with H5N1 and this season's flu strain, and could thus postpone or prevent a deadly flu pandemic. Sounds like rational self-interest to me!