Lessons From Past Flu Outbreaks

" Generally means vaccine production. Kennedy should be ram stuff. But the vaccine to treat -- not here yet. And likely won't be here for at least another fifteen weeks but next guest says that's not necessarily at at many points to nineteen. 76 he is Howard -- director of the center for the history of medicine at the University of Michigan. So. Fifteen weeks alarms people doctor why do you say don't be alarmed."

" Well maybe longer than fifteen weeks if you use the chicken egg production method which is still it's an old nothing but still the major method could take four to six months. The issue is is that. We need to make vaccine. If the government decides that it is a public health emergency. But we need to make it right to need to make sure thing for me and that takes a lot of work you have to grow millions and millions of doses of vaccine -- every American."

" You know in 1976. And you can refresh my memory here. The vaccine was killing more people and and certainly. Injuries symptoms paralysis well that's certainly underlie entirely on entirely true what happened."

" To begin live. There are about 200 odd cases at fort Dix New Jersey. Among soldiers and there was a big push to make of vaccine for all Americans about fifteen million Americans got the vaccine. The problem was the pandemic never really occurred so there were there was no -- flu epidemic as predicted. There were some side effects from this vaccine to over a few -- but there was no definitive study linking those deaths to the back. I don't know I don't know paralysis and then then there was an uptick of Jillian -- syndrome. Which is a neurological disorder which often comes after -- or vaccine that was seven fold what do we should have been during the regular year. But again no no who were called to the study that showed that vaccine actually do that but."

" going to ask -- this week they were forty million doses of vaccine given. Yes so I remember as a kid you know once and you know. Even take even today I am just wondering. Do we need to do that."

" Well if swine flu really got out of hand and it was the novel virus that we predicted in real time. If people didn't have vaccine on board. A lot of people might have gotten sick and might -- gotten might have died. The the the reality was that the the -- the epidemic never really panned out. And so with all vaccines there is a risk and you you try to balance the risks over the benefits given that there was no pandemic that your. These side effects the desk whether they were caused or not the gay and -- syndrome. Let people to say well there's no pandemic why should I have risked anything so trashed the real issue here Howard very educational thank you very much."