Swine Flu Roundup
More “worrying” even than the no-longer-newsworthy bird flu, the new swine flu outbreak has caused panic in Mexico City and around the world, reaching even to the ivory tower known as Twitter, where it has become the top frontpage hashtag of the moment.
Why am I not worried? First and foremost, I neither raise nor eat swine. More comforting to those of you who do, however, is that fact that just even though 20 40 64 91 4298 cases have been reported stateside, there have been only three fatalities. This particular strain of flu is not new, either – Paul Mickle of the Trentonian reports, circa 1976, that President Gerald Ford’s swine flu inoculation program had excellent early production and adoption rates…
Within days, however, several people who had taken the shot fell seriously ill. On Oct. 12, three elderly people in the Pittsburgh area suffered heart attacks and died within hours of getting the shot, which led to suspension of the program in Pennsylvania.
Jersey pressed on with inoculations, however. Through the fall, even as more bad reports about the side effects of the vaccine came out, thousands of mostly older people in Greater Trenton lined up outside health centers, schools and firehouses to get the shot, sometimes waiting for an hour.
During that outbreak, which spread as frighteningly and rapidly as today’s, only one person died, of the hundreds who fell ill. No doubt the aging population increases the mortality rate of today’s outbreak – but, by and large, there is nothing to worry about. Despite what the internet says.
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