Will you be denied the swine flu shot?
It is without doubt one of the big questions that you will have to answer. No one gets to avoid this very fundamental question, and everyone will be asking it regardless of who they are, and what their interests may be. It is the reason my friend Stephen Carter created his latest site: Survive Pandemic Flu
The question: Will you get the swine flu shot? Will you even be eligible to receive it?
Stephen contacted me recently and helped me realize that very few people have fully appreciated the fact that shortly the biggest and most costly inoculation program in the history of public health will be launched. The cost to U.S. taxpayers alone to foot the bill for a swine flu vaccine will be in the vicinity of 10 billion dollars.
I agree with Stephen that most people are likely to jump at the opportunity to get the vaccine. What I did not fully appreciate, and what most others probably also do not fully understand, are the pros and cons of doing so. I certainly was not aware that there may only be sufficient vaccine to inoculate a select portion of the population, so many of us may be required to forgo our spot in the line.
In fact, instead of the expected delivery in October 2009 of an initial 120 million swine flu doses to inoculate the U.S. population, vaccine manufacturers say they will be able to come up with only 45 million doses. This means that tens of millions of Americans will be left vulnerable in the event that the virus finds a way to turn more deadly - something that influenza is known to have done in past pandemics.
What I learned from reading Stephen's book is that, without a vaccine in place, perhaps fully one third of the global population will contract swine flu in the next 12 months. This is why the inoculation program is all but certain, even if it appears that it will now be delayed.
The other thing worth keeping in mind is that economic times are tough, and the U.S. government would hardly be looking to dole out 10 billion dollars on a vaccine program if there was not a very real concern that things could turn bad very quickly with this pathogen.
This is why you want to make sure you fully understand the situation, and prepare yourself in the event that you find yourself ineligible for the first batches of this vaccine, which by all accounts will be in limited supply for the duration of 2009.
You can find out more about Stephen's new book "Survive Pandemic Flu" at Survive Pandemic Flu
