Will there be enough swine flu vaccine for everyone in the fall?
A vaccine isn’t going to come galloping to our rescue before the pandemic hits again in the fall. Viruses grow at different speeds and the virus to make the swine flu vaccine is growing about 30 percent to 50 percent of the rate of the regular influenza. This is not going well. The first tests in human beings are just beginning in Australia. There will be tests in the U.S. in August.
It’s very clear there is not going to be a vaccine before school starts.
There was a lot of discussion at the meeting yesterday about the inclusion of 18-24 year olds in the recommendations. College students would be very vulnerable. When young people are in close quarters, they are at high risk of getting the virus.
The schools are the obvious place where it looks like there’s going to be trouble again. In the height of the epidemic in May, there were about 450,000 students not going to school because of swine flu. It could be far worse in the fall.
The concern of people who do computer models of outbreaks is, what if everybody in a power plant was stricken? We might lose a critical service. Or what if a huge percentage of people in sanitation service were sickened?
There are ways in which a disease, which is relatively moderate or mild in most people, could still be very disruptive to society. But there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it at this point.
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#1 by Marg on August 1st, 2009
The situation feels like an impending crisis is hanging over the world–and most people are oblivious to it. Just a week ago I heard an 18 year old say, “Oh, the swine flu has fizzled out. It only effected old people and babies, anyway. There is nothing to worry about!” Ignorance is bliss!