Swine Flu Vaccine Campaign Begins

CDC director tries to end fear factor over H1N1

The swine flu vaccine is ready – are you?

Children in several states began to receive nasal sprays to ward off the H1N1 virus yesterday with 2.4 million doses of vaccine set to hit the country by the end of the week, The New York Times reported.

But Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said a new public health threat has already emerged: misinformation on blogs and talk radio that the disease is “mild” and its vaccine untested.

“On average, flu is not a ‘mild’ illness — it can make you pretty sick, knock you out for a day or two or three [and even kill],” Frieden told the paper. He added that the vaccine’s “seed strain” was made and tested the same way as seasonal flu shots and without serious side effects.

Get more: New York Times, New Yorker, CDC
 

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