I'm going to Dr. Miracleman.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I am volunteering with a local non-profit for a parent mentoring program. I met my mentoree today. She's very young, no education, no job, no money, an 18 month old daughter and a boyfriend in jail. I really, really hope I can make an impact on her life.

The swine flu vaccine in '76 killed more people than the flu did.

To be fair, it is a general rule that the more successful a public health prevention program is, the more likely it is that people will die or be injured by the prevention than by the disease. That's becuase as the effectiveness of the prevention goes up, the number of people harmed by the disease goes down, so that eventually even very small risks from the prevention will outweigh morbidity from the disease.

That wasn't the case in '76, however. Less than a third of the population was vaccinated and it appears that the flu didn't much spread past the initial Fort Dix infections.

'76 is interesting because a lot of power-plays were involved in the development of that particular vaccine. There was considerable scare-mongering that appears to have been politically motivated. There were drug companies leaning on congress. There was the CDC getting its britches in a twist. It was a clusterfuck. It was the kind of thing that make conspiracy theorists say, "See! Shit goes DOWN!"

So now even some of the not-so-conspiracy inclined see, yet again, a flu that caused school closures and borderline panic in its early stages and then... nothing?

Only this time, its NOT nothing. That time, with that particular flu, it truly was. This time it SEEMS like nothing becauase we aren't getting the early theorized horrors.

I'd love it if public health discussions could have some depth from the start. The initial ITS EBOLA AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO BLEED FROM OUR EYEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!! panic is a big chunk of what causes subsequent laxity or outright resistance. People feel like they've been sold a bill of goods (only because they have) and many become resistant to reason.

Cashmere, I don't remember your talking about the mentoring volunteering before; that's way cool of you!

So will vodka and a steady stream of cursing.

cursing, check. For pain, I prefer the brown liquors. Plus, it's all rainy and gross out, so it's a bourbon day.

Only this time, its NOT nothing. That time, with that particular flu, it truly was. This time it SEEMS like nothing becauase we aren't getting the early theorized horrors.

We're not? There have been more kids and teenagers who died of H1N1 just in October than the usual number for an entire flu season. [link] Every website that I look at seems to have different numbers for the total number of deaths, but with the rate that this is growing, I think it could pretty easily reach the projected numbers by the time flu season is over. Usually, peak flu season is November through March or April. We're not there yet.

Good for you, Cashmere! I hope it's a good experience for all of you.

So will vodka and a steady stream of cursing.

There was a study done and cursing really does help you to withstand pain, though its effectiveness is reduced by frequent cursing. Or so "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" informed me.

We're not? There have been more kids and teenagers who died of H1N1 just in October than the usual number for an entire flu season. [link] Every website that I look at seems to have different numbers for the total number of deaths, but with the rate that this is growing, I think it could pretty easily reach the projected numbers by the time flu season is over. Usually, peak flu season is November through March or April. We're not there yet.

Remember the school closings? Kristin's school was going to close for two weeks and get the place decontaminated if they had a single case. The initial freak-out was disproportionate.

The initial freak-out was disproportionate.

I agree, but the inital media-fueled distortion is a separate issue from whether or not people should get vaccinated.

Which is to say, just because it was blown out of proportion then doesn't mean that it isn't of massive proportions now.

ION, I'm still watching Buffy S2, and Passion is on right now, and I'm up to the Flaming Baseball Bat of Vengeance. Fuck, I love this episode.

A whole bunch of universities have set up swine flu dorms. Anyone who gets H1N1 goes to live in a special quarantine area until they get better, to avoid it spreading around the regular dorms. Most schools had one or two confirmed cases in the spring, and a few hundred in the fall. [link] I remember everyone at my university getting freaked out when there were three confirmed cases here in the spring. No one actually seems to be counting anymore, but as of October 1, there were 500 possible cases (people who had flu symptoms but hadn't been tested.)

I agree, but the inital media-fueled distortion is a separate issue from whether or not people should get vaccinated.

I wish it could be seperate, but I suspect its why a lot of people who don't get vaccinated choose that route.