It is true, swine flu has spread across the world rapidly and the WHO has long warned of that global pandemic. Worldwide there were an estimated 28000 infections and more than 1000 kills in August '09 already, so the WHO. This had its effect on the entire world. They all got prepared for the pandemic, like the States and Australia, which immediately ordered pure vaccines.
Today Influenza A H1N1 has reached Europe and there are already more than 100 cases of confirmed swine flue in Germany. Yet other than the first cases coming from Mexico, where it all started, the German ones so far took a harmless course, says the president of the Robert Koch Institute Berlin, Jörg Hacker. This makes the Germans wonder: How dangerous is swine flu really?
INFRATEST DIMAP, an institute for surveys seated in Berlin came up with statistics on how the Germans today view the treat of the swine flu infection. The question posed was: How did the discussions on swine flu in the media affect you?
4% said they feel serious unease, 14% feel some unease, 32% do not really feel uneasy and 50% do not at all feel any unease. It seems the threat has not yet reached the population.
Yet, like America and Australia, the Federal German Government has also made its preparations and has ordered vaccines, so that on October 26 the immunization of the masses can begin.
Truth however also is that there are in fact three different approved vaccines on the German market. Yet other than in the States and in Australia it was feared in Europe that the demands for vaccination would not meet the supply, so the decision was made to add some molecular reinforcer to the vaccine so to improve its efficiency.
However it is already known since end of August that swine flue turned out to not be as severe as it was assumed to be in the first place, and so the additional reinforcer has become futile. All the more as it is said to have some unpleasant side effects, like half of the test persons had pains in the arm, about a third of them felt sick and some had fever lasting for two or three days. All of these side effects yet just so fade after a short while, so none of these are in any way serious. They simply fade.
This was made known to public and people are not pleased by it. The problem now is that the German Government has ordered these vaccines containing the molecular reinforcer already and the supply of these is a fact now. Vaccinations starting on Monday, October 26 will be done with these serums, as no other ones are available. Though criticising the Federal Health Minister Ulla Schmidt for the lack of better research earlier to ordering these vaccines the virologist of the University Halle/Wittenberg, Alexander Kekulé, still confirms that these reinforcers and their nasty side effects should not prevent the people form taking the immunisation against swine flue, as it is still a pandemic.
Here, too, INFRATEST DIMAP, the Berlin institute for surveys, asked the population: Will you undergo immunization against swine flu? And the answers were: 12% of the Germans will definitely do it, 19% will probably do it, 27% will probably not do it and 39% will definitely not take this immunization.
Germans show quite a remarkable case of carelessness here. When asked why they refuse the immunization many say that they are always threatened to get infected by just any kind of influenza and that the swine flu is just one more on that list. Others claim that infections with influenza viruses are overcome by a healthy natural immune system, which is given in case one lives and behaves healthy and again others simply state, that life is a risk always and anyway, be there swine flu or not.
Time will show if the Germans carelessness is appropriate or if it is sheer recklessness.