Historical September 1976 report on the planned swine-flu vaccination program; period predictions and medical claims are preserved, not current medical advice.
Swine Flu is a funny-sounding name for a disease that ALSO infects people. If you have been reading your newspapers, you will know that the entire country is gearing up to get immunized against the disease, which is a variant of the flu that caused the Great Epidemic.
People’s Clinic will be one of the immunization sites for the free walk-in immunizations that the government is providing. According to our contacts at the Health Department, the plan is to have city-wide mass inoculations on two Sundays in September, probably September 12 and 19. People 18 years of age and older will be immunized in this program.
Guidelines have not yet been released concerning the immunization of people under 18, but the Health Department says that immunizations for children will be handled through the school system.
The scientific bonzos say that there is a possibility that we might not have the flu epidemic—but if we do, the wise person would want to be immunized. Besides having an increased mortality risk (it is a MEAN bug), this particular flu virus has some nasty associated risks. There is a national increase in Parkinson’s disease, for instance, that seems to be a very late (like 40 years later) side-effect of having the flu in the Great Epidemic, for some people.
During the first few weeks in September, there will be lots of flu publicity; keep your eyes open and your ears on your radio, and you will doubtless get the latest information as it is released. And when the time comes, remember that the Clinic will have the vaccine availble!
Originally published in The Paper, September 1976.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1976_09.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 3.
