Scare Tactics from the CDC?

Hmmm. Just wondering….is it a coincidence that on Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released information on nationwide clinical-trial locations for the H1N1 virus, and then followed this up with the petrifying news a day later that 40 percent of the U.S. population may get the flu if the clinical trials don’t finish up on schedule.

I think not. Seems like a great way to rustle up otherwise unwilling volunteers, if you ask me.

Thursday’s news was relatively sedate. As the Washington Post reported in its article on the start of the clinical trials, the hysteria surrounding the outbreak has largely dissipated. However, deaths are still being reported this summer, including that of a girl who lived south of Seattle who died this week. A pregnant woman, also south of Seattle, went into a coma and has yet to realize she has given birth. And now, even Jose Padilla’s reported to have been diagnosed with swine flu. It’s lingering in a season that it shouldn’t be, and that’s downright disconcerting.

Seattle’s Group Health Cooperative (a paragon of medical cost-control, by the way) is one of the medical centers seeking clinical-trial volunteers guinea pigs. I contemplated driving up to the Pill Hill neighborhood where Seattle’s hospitals are concentrated to roll up a sleeve. If the U.S. has lined up to buy less than 2 million doses of the vaccine, and there are nearly 4 million of us…well, heck, that’s nuts.

But the chicken in me overcame the willingness to be a guinea pig. Who knows what other ingredients are in the vaccine? Apologies to my friends in the biomedical industry, but what if the speed with which the vaccine was created may have contributed to an increased potential for side effects? Having a daughter who had a major reaction to her first vaccination (the haemophilus influenza, or Hib, shot—a vaccine I was never given) made me pause.

Only for a day, though. Friday’s big news? Swine flu may infect 40 percent of the population over the next 2 years. Oh-kay. “Several hundred thousand could die if the vaccine campaign is not successful, “ adds the CDC. The timing of this announcement, right on the heels of the vaccine trial launch, strikes me as cruel and a bit conniving. I’m glad the government can’t force us to participate in this research, but at the same time, they’re not going to scare me into it. I understand the gravity and importance of this research, but they shouldn’t be using scare tactics to rope the public into helping.

UPDATED, 11:30 A.M. 7/25/09: Another factor that may contribute to public confusion: Citing limited resources, the CDC just announced will no longer track probable and confirmed cases of H1N1, a move that echoes the WHO's decision from last week to do the same. This sends a mixed message, with possible public ramifications. If the number of confirmed cases had continued to rise, and continued to be reported, the public would likely continue to perceive it as a danger (even though the number of cases reported and confirmed are much lower than the total, due to the limited number of testing facilities). Without this (admittedly lowballed) number, will the public pay it less attention, with preventive measures less likely to be taken? The graphic charts of confirmed cases and fatalities worldwide has helped raise public consciousness of the virus. What will happen now?