Final Draft

Stephen Guelda
ENGL 105
Mr. Leake
23 November 2009
Multiple Lives of the Swine Flu
The swine flu has been talked about for months upon months ever since it first started appearing in the United States. There have been more infections and deaths as time has drawn on. It has been in the paper and news for probably about as long as Michael Jackson was when he died. There have been stories ranging from how many people have been infected to the vaccine and then stories about those stories and responding to everything those say. This story has been of interest to people ever since the H1N1 started showing up because it deals with people’s health and safety. It has been developing for months upon months as scientists and researchers have studied more and researchers have been producing vaccines for the swine flu.
The swine flu was discovered and classified as a new strain of flu in April 2009. People started to worry about how it would affect them and the news of course covered it. Many sites urged precaution and caused some panic because people did not know how bad the new virus would be. There had been few studies and not that many people were sick, so they did not necessarily have much of a clue of how it would affect everyone. Some people were saying it would be as bad as the flu pandemic in 1918-1919 which killed somewhere around fifty million people worldwide. So even though no one really had any solid proof of what this strain was capable of people started coming up with their own ideals and debating about how much it would affect everyone.
After the first cases started showing up throughout the United States, it started to get national attention. It had been active in countries such as Mexico for a while before it ever came to the United States, and the government had no desire of the same thing occurring. The government started focusing on preventing the spread of the disease and the procurement of a vaccine that would be able to be produced and distributed quickly. President Obama suggested a plan that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to help research the H1N1 strain, develop a vaccine, and prevent the spread of it through out the United States. People started to realize that this could be a very serious threat to people, and as most normal people would do, they started to question what type of preparation was being done to stem off this virus that could be potentially lethal. Some people panicked and worried that it was going to be a pandemic and tons of people would die. On the other hand many people thought everyone was overreacting and that it would be no worse than even the seasonal flu. Studies started being conducted to determine some of these things, but nothing really definitive had come out yet. Stories continued to come about the swine flu and different people’s reactions to it.
As the virus started becoming more prevalent in a majority of the states in the United States, people really started worrying. People were even starting to die, and many people were starting to panic. People did not see many things going on to help stop this from becoming a pandemic. People wanted answers and started commenting on how they thought the government was doing in preparing for the swine flu. Everyone from blogs to newspapers covered the story, and it even became a topic that many people discussed among their peers. People demanded that vaccine be made and the government came up with an estimate that around a hundred million doses would be ready by mid-October.
As the situation currently stands the vaccine has started being administered across the country, but not nearly as much as the government proposed would be ready at this time. Drive thru clinics with the limited supply of the swine flu shot were set up with the one that happened at the University of Louisville’s Stadium being a prime example. Also people were being administered a nasal spray form of the swine flu vaccine. This by itself became a totally different story as people questioned this new vaccine. The nasal spray vaccine is an active virus, and people started saying that this was going to spread the disease more than stop the spread of it. Many people have said that they will not be getting the vaccine and even health care workers have protested getting it. The government had to defend itself and this turned into stories and counter stories over this new vaccine. All this was happening while people were arguing over methods to speed up the regular vaccine production. The whole process was under heavy scrutiny by many people for not meeting the expectations that they said they would complete.
One main issue that people looked at with the vaccine was rather or not to receive the vaccine. There are many different reasons why people decided they were or were not going to get the vaccine. One big issue as mentioned above was the different types of vaccine. The nasal spray form was put under a lot of scrutiny because it uses an active form of the virus. Another reason that people were questioning it was because they were wondering if the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the possible negative side effects of the vaccine. One person thinks not. Dr. Russell Blaylock mentions many statistics about how the vaccine is a waste of time. In an article that he wrote in November, Blaylock covers facts such as the death rates, the contagiousness, and the severity of the actual flu virus. He also covers such things as the vaccine testing. He says that the vaccine was only tested for a week, so it is not proven safe, and he mentions on how the swine flu is really not that serious a deal(Blaylock). The possible consequences are devastating as well. Many vaccines have been linked to cause different major conditions in certain patients. He lists some examples such as Gardasil that has been linked to possibly cause a dementia like illness in children. Blaylock says the media and the CDC are building up the vaccine and are being fear mongers to sell the vaccine to further themselves. He says it is all a big hoax to make money, and he strongly advises against spending money for something that has a slight chance of hurting you a lot more than it helps you.
This is completely opposite from what sites such as those made by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the New York Times have to say. They are still saying everyone should take the vaccine to be completely safe (CDC). They are saying it is still a major threat to the nation even though activity seems to be going down in many places. In fact on the CDC’s website it says that major swine flu activity is only being recorded in twenty five of the fifty states in the United States. The vaccine is still being administered through out the United States as clinics are popping up in places such as schools, universities, and doctors offices. The severity is not at all what people may have expected with the beginning estimates being that there would be hundreds of thousands in the hospital and the Intensive Care Unit, but one can never be too safe when it comes to his or her health. Who are you supposed to believe? They both have facts to back up their research. Both sets of facts may be right too. This is where the story develops within the audience personally.
Even now this story has not ended. There is no telling where this story will go in the time ahead. Even the most prominent newspaper, The New York Times, has an overview of the swine flu over time and a swine flu navigator (The New York Times). The swine flu is still popping up all around the world and for the most part has spread to every state in the United States. There have been over one thousand deaths and tens of thousands of infections in the United States attributed to the swine flu alone and this number is only going to increase as time goes on. People have been saying that the swine flu has been through the first wave, and many people are expecting a second wave when winter hits. All of these speculations lead to more stories, and whether or not a second wave of the H1N1 flu hits will determine whether or not this story will live on and there will be even more stories. This story will live on through the upcoming months as the flu season draws closer and depending on how widespread the consequences are it may even live on in history.


Works Cited
"Swine Flu (H1N1)." The New York Times. 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.
Blaylock, Dr. Russell. "Swine Flu -- One of the Most Massive Cover-ups in American History." Web.
CDC. "General Information About 2009 H1N1 Vaccines." Web.