The battle against the H1N1 "Swine Flu" spread has been handled rather well, in my opini0n.
As far as the public can tell, information has been disseminated rapidly as it comes in regarding advances in protection, spread and containment.
But the question still remains: how could it have been handled better?
The answer:
Kill the Fear.
The main thing that has NOT been handled well is that the CDC has done nothing to quell the fear of the public regarding H1N1. Rather than initially telling them that H1N1 is simply another strain of influenza that is most likely to infect you and be harmful if your immune system is already low (truth), they fed the frenzy by promoting face masks in public, having you run to get your H1N1 shots (which have not necessarily been proven to work) and more.
Why cause panic when you can quell the populous?
Well how else are you supposed to sell your vaccines?
Yes, the problem here is that the CDC is still inherently a business. So while it DID want to help people with the problem, it also had to consider its fiscal standpoint.
Problem: I don't think they considered it well enough.
I personally think it would have been more ethical to calm the population and let them know everything about H1N1, still offering vaccines to all so as to prevent spread. Easy marketing: Winter is flu season. Get vaccinated BEFORE flu season to avoid having your immune system drop and expose you to H1N1.
I'm not saying that the CDC did anything inherently wrong. I'm just giving a better PR/Public information stance: full truth eases panic more often than not. And when your job is centered around diseases that can potentially kill, that should be your primary concern.
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as a person who suffered from the swine 09... (check out my blog post... haha) i agree! i think they put way too much fear into peoples minds about it...
ReplyDeletei agree that you need to be better safe than sorry.. but i think the way the CDC went about it made it sound like it was a death sentence..
That's interesting that your take on the situation is this has been a way to sell vaccines, but what about the local governmental clinics that are giving away H1N1 vaccines to the public? For example, the Lee County Medical Arts Center in my hometown is giving them away, rather than selling them.
ReplyDelete@crobcary
ReplyDelete(hah, look at that, now I'm using Twitterspeak. Oh what has it done to me)
Giving away the vaccines has been an extremely kind and beneficial act.
However, if I were forced to answer your question in a way that could correlate with my post, one could also view it as PR for the groups giving it away. "Look how nice we are" and all that. When in need of health care, would you rather go to someone who has made you pay for everything or someone who gave you a free sample when you were in need? (A doctor I recently visited gave me about a dozen sample medicines so I wouldn't have to fill and pay for a prescription, and I must say I feel much more inclined to stick with him).
I think the H1N1 was handled well also. There wasn't too much reported on this strand of flu so yes of course there were some people that were freaked out but there werent as many as I think were predicted too. Some people are still scared of the name but I think PR people for H1N1 did a great job of informing people and getting them educated of what to do and how to make sure you are going to be ok.
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