Swine Flu Vaccine

I haven’t written about the swine flu outbreak thus far, but I guess its only responsible to address the situation.  There’s a great deal of hysteria in the media right now, so let’s take a moment to address the history of swine flu and swine flu vaccine in the United States.  There’s good reason for concern, but we tend to forget that each year, approximately 36,000 people in the U.S. die every year from “regular” flu and flu complications.

What Is Swine Flu?

Swine flu originates in pigs and experts believe the transmission to humans occurs as a by-product of humans living in close contact with livestock.  This particular outbreak is believed to have originated in Mexico.  There have been two outbreaks of swine flu in the United States in recent history.  The most memorable was the Spanish Flu of 1918.  This outbreak turned into a global pandemic that killed millions.

The most recent U.S. case of swine flu occurred in 1976, and experts believed it to be the same strain that was responsible for the 1918 outbreak.  The 1976 case started with the death of a Fort Dix soldier.  Although that was the only known death, officials believed many others had been infected, and promptly determined there was a substantial public health risk.  Within a very short period of time, a vaccine was developed and a crash vaccination program adopted with the goal of administering the vaccine to every U.S. citizen.

The 1976 Swine Flu Vaccination Program

The swine flu vaccination program of 1976 seems to be best described as a debacle.  Officials quickly learned that children weren’t protected by a single shot, so that introduced the question of using a two shot regimen.  Then they learned that it carried a substantially increased risk of Guillian-Barre Syndrome – to the tune of being seven-times greater than those who did not receive the vaccine.  The vaccination program died early, but not before 45 million U.S. citizens were inoculated.  The total cost to the U.S. government (read:  taxpayer) was $400 million.  Of that, $90 million was the result of damages from the vaccine.

That brings us to today.  Generally speaking, I’m a fan of flu vaccinations.  At one time in my life, I refused to take the flu vaccine, under the presumption that “it doesn’t work.”  Then I had a son who is asthmatic, and decided that it would be irresponsible of me to refuse taking any measure within my power to protect him.  So now I get my vaccine every year.  Having said that, there is a risk associated with any vaccine, as my wife can attest.  This past year, she had a reaction to her annual flu shot, and from this point forward she can no longer take the flu vaccine.  From the number and types of comments on that post, it seems to be a fairly common occurrence.  Thank you to all the readers who have contributed to that story.

Once again, public officials are discussing the barriers to developing a swine flu vaccine.  A recent story stated that the U.S. method of producing vaccine would require at least 6 months to develop.  The process could be accelerated using a technique already approved in Europe, but the real question is – should we take that path?

There is a known risk to taking any vaccine.  It seems to me that, if we’re not careful, we run the risk of repeating the mistakes of our past.  As they say, those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.  We all have to make our own decisions, but for myself, I don’t believe I’ll be rushing down to get poked the day a vaccine hits the market.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe this outbreak certainly presents a danger, but for all the deaths currently attributed to this swine flu outbreak, it still hasn’t even matched the number of deaths we get every year in the U.S. from plain old vanilla flu.  So for the moment, I’m going to take the standard precautions.  What are those?  Basically the things your Mom taught you when you were a kid:  Wash your hands and turn your head when you cough or sneeze.  Stay home if you’re sick, and try keeping your hands away from your face.  I’ve seen people hawking those white surgical masks, but I don’t think I’m going to be heading to the drugstore for mine just yet.  Somehow I doubt those flimsy things will filter out a virus.

What’s the readers take on this mess?  Is this something for concern, or are you taking a wait-and-see approach?  If a vaccine hits the market this Fall, will you take it, or pass for the moment?

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