Swine Flu Paranoia

President Obama has signed a proclamation officially declaring the swine flu a national emergency. With Flu season right around the corner, people are rushing to receive vaccinations. Since the regular flu shot doesn’t protect against the swine flu, a separate vaccine has to be made. Due to this, the nation is experiencing a swine flu vaccine shortage.

With Obama declaring the swine flu a national emergency, more panic about the swine flu is bound to break out. The topic of swine flu was already such a frenzy to begin with, but it seems to be getting much worse as flu season inches closer.

The swine flu vaccination is the hot topic of the season. Is it safe? Does it really protect us? What are the side effects? Many people have speculated and even doctors have warned against the vaccination because it is so new. Some people are hesitant as to whether or not to take the risk of not getting vaccinated and maybe catching the swine flu, or getting vaccinated and then having to deal with possible unknown side effects. However once this decision is made among families, and they do want to get vaccinated, another major issue occurs: vaccine shortages.

As the numbers of swine flu infections go up, the number of vaccines available goes down. America is having an extreme shortage of the swine flu vaccine. The production rate is not fast enough and people are beginning to panic. Families are calling their doctors and pharmacist’s everyday to check if another shipment of the vaccine has come in yet. Neither the doctors nor the pharmacists know when the next doses of the vaccine will arrive.

Many families such as Yessica Maher of Los Angeles are feeling the effects of the shortage. Two of her sons were not able to use the nasal spray version of the vaccine due to asthma and she was told that the vaccine would not become available until November.

The World Health Organization has reported more than 414,000 confirmed cases of H1N1 worldwide, with nearly 5,000 deaths. However, the swine flu seems no more deadly than the seasonal flu which kills 36,000 American’s each year. The only difference is that the swine flu threatens younger people rather than people over 65 who are usually the main victims of the seasonal flu.

Many Americans are desperately seeking vaccine against the swine flu, yet the question is, is it really necessary?

Many countries have stopped counting for the swine flu entirely. There are so many cases that it is simply impossible to keep track. In the UK, government doctors stopped counting when the number of infected reached 1 million. They say that the numbers were inaccurate because seasonal flu and other respiratory disease numbers were reported and counted as the swine flu.

In Germany, many doctors have advised patients against receiving the swine flu and have mostly encouraged receiving the seasonal flu shot. Ironically, many people in Germany have said that there was absolutely no shortage in vaccines, but rather an overflow of it. In fact, only 30% of Germans agree to receive the swine flu shot because most people are not completely convinced by it.

So is the swine flu in America really that dangerous or is it all just an exaggeration to scare the people in order to make profit?

"According to Business Week, wealthier countries like the U.S. and the U.K. will pay just under $10 per dose, while developing countries would pay less. If these facts hold true, Big Pharma stands to gain up to $49 billion a year on the swine flu vaccine alone."

By keeping the American people under a constant state of fear and panic, the demand for vaccines will continue to rise. But not only will the people demand the swine flu vaccine, but they will also be more likely to receive the seasonal flu shot as well. Through this, big companies such as Big Pharma will continue to make more and more profit.

If Big American pharmacy industries are gaining huge profit through the swine flu, stopping the swine flu paranoia would only hurt their business, so why bother stopping it?

By Jacqueline March
Blog #2