Has the manufactured hysteria over H1N1 influenza backfired? Quite possibly. Instead of the 8,000 immunizations the Salt Lake City health department expected to give out at a planned vaccination drive they actually administered a paltry 300.
The Salt Lake Valley Health Department had the lowest turnout ever for its annual flu vaccination drive Saturday.
Officials were hoping to give out as many as 8,000 flu shots, but only several hundred people showed up.
This year, the department decided to bump up the date for its clinic because of concerns with H1N1.
Audrey Stevenson of the Salt Lake Valley Health Department said, “What’s unusual is that the vaccine has been available earlier this year than in seasons past, and so individuals may not be aware that it’s time to get your seasonal influenza shot.”
This is the “regular” flu shot, not the H1N1 shot. Yet people are staying away in droves. Maybe people are still in “summer mode” as the piece says. Or maybe they are really getting tired of all the hype. Too early to tell from one report, but we’ll see.
If one looks at the number of deaths attributed to the H1N1 virus, the number is a drop in the bucket when compared to the world population. Also, if I understand correctly, deaths have occurred in undeveloped countries with bad sanitation, and the traditional victims (very young, very old, and compromised immunity).
I have seen no evidence to date that H1N1 kills more than seasonal flu. The problem is that it kills by a different mechanism and kills a different demographic. What would really suck is to come down with both strains at the same time.