Who could forget the commotion that ensued last fall as news of the H1N1 flu (also called swine flu) spread across the news. When large numbers of students were forced to stay home, ill with the virus, mothers and fathers across the nation rushed to make sure that their children were protected. In the Nature article “After the Pandemic”, the author states that officials from the World Health Organization handled the situation quite well (despite maybe a few slip-ups) and did a fine job keeping the public informed without blowing anything out of perspective. However, the article “CNN Poll: Majority of adult Americans don't want H1N1 flu shot” from CNN in November of 2009 (when the virus was still a concern) speaks differently. It claims that a great deal of American failed to take precautionary measures either because the vaccine worried them or they were otherwise unable to receive it. In fact, when this article was released only 7 percent of people had received the vaccine. Though both of these articles have their points and well developed arguments, their underlying messages about how H1N1 was dealt with contradict sharply. From these contradictions, we can see that in order to judge how such a pandemic has been handled we must consider the data from the time of the outbreak, not just the final results.
The article “After the Pandemic” claims that overall, the World Health Organization (WHO) did a good job dealing with the virus. The author argues that this is so because they managed to keep the information coming out about about H1N1 pertinent and cautionary without causing panic or understating the danger. Also, this article claims that the WHO promoted strong communication and coordination among groups that were trying to deal with the outbreak. The only problem that the author cites when defending the success of the WHO is that production and distribution of the vaccine was difficult. This one setback, however, may have been a bigger problem than the somewhat insignificant afterthought that this article makes it out to be.
The article “CNN Poll: Majority of adult Americans don't want H1N1 flu shot” shows just what kind of failure the distribution of the H1N1 vaccine actually was. This article explains that the vast majority of Americans never received the vaccine, as a matter of fact, only seven percent of us did. The reasons so many people went unvaccinated are made clear in this article. For one, the majority (55 percent) of Americans simply shunned the vaccine due to fear of possible dangerous side effects or ignorance. Another large percentage of Americans (roughly 24 percent) planned to get the vaccine but just never took the steps to do so, possibly because they simply weren’t concerned enough about the potency of H1N1. And finally, the remaining 14 percent of Americans attempted to receive the vaccine but were unsuccessful. That is twice the number of people that actually did receive the vaccine! What this article makes clear is that the H1N1 vaccine failed to sufficiently reach and protect a substantial amount of people, and that this failure resulted from a lack of resources and a lack of education about both the virus and the vaccine.
So, when a pandemic breaks out in our country, do we value having an organization set up that will simply be able to warn us about the illness without causing panic? Most people would likely say that they would place more value on having education about and actual protection from the virus rather than just an effective warning system. If this strain of the H1N1 had been more deadly or had mutated into a deadly disease, the 93 percent of Americans who went unvaccinated would be in serious danger. The fact that the WHO was able to prevent panic was not necessarily an achievement in the first place, for if this strain had been more deadly, a little panic may have helped people take more precaution and have driven more rapid, prolific development of a vaccine. Overall, I believe that the WHO does not deserve the credit it is giving itself for successfully handling the H1N1 flu season. The organization seems to be giving themselves credit based solely on results, which under the circumstances of a virus are variable and may have nothing to do with the actions of the WHO. I just hope they have learned from their mistakes this time so they will be better prepared to handle such a situation in the future.
“CNN Poll: Majority of adult Americans don't want H1N1 flu shot”, CNN, 18 November 2009, http://articles.cnn.com/2009-11-18/health/poll.h1n1.vaccine_1_swine-flu-flu-vaccine-h1n1?_s=PM:HEALTH
“After the Pandemic”, Nature, 18 August 2010, Vol. 466 ,903, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7309/full/466903b.html
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