U.S. Purchases 195 Million Doses of H1N1 Vaccine

Did you know that this week 100,000 people in the UK contracted the H1N1 flu virus (the Swine Flu)? Well, it’s true. These are confirmed cases of the swine flu. Last week, there were 55,000 cases. The craziest thing is that the flu season doesn’t typically begin in England until December or January. What’s going to happen when flu season actually hits? Here are some of the bullet points for the current UK flu scare:

  • New cases of swine flu double in seven days
  • 840 people ‘seriously ill’ in hospital, 63 in intensive care
  • Majority of cases are people aged 16-64

Thankfully, the United States has purchased 195 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine. That’s good, right? Well, maybe not. There are over 300 million people in the United States. Hopefully this flu virus doesn’t attack everyone. But if it does, our government also purchased 120 million doses of adjvant:

The U.S. government has bought 195 million doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine for a possible autumn vaccination campaign, a U.S. federal official said Thursday.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has also contracted for 120 million doses of adjuvant, a compound to stretch the number of doses of vaccine needed, the department’s Dr. Robin Robinson told a meeting of Food and Drug Administration advisers.

Autumn vaccination campaign? I know there is currently a pretty strong flu vaccination campaign every Autumn. But many people ignore it. If the US government wants everyone to get vaccinated, they will need to scare the crap out of people. Maybe with TV ads, newspaper ads, search campaigns, websites, etc… But that is really a doomsday scenario. I hope it doesn’t get to that point. I guess the point is: If you can get a flu vaccine this year, get one.