Scare Tactics: CDC Says H1N1 Could Kill Hundreds of Thousands If Vaccine Fails

Thomas H. Maugh II
The Los Angeles Times
July 25, 2009

Hundreds of thousands of Americans could die over the next two years if the vaccine and other control measures for the new H1N1 influenza are not effective, and, at the pandemic’s peak, as much as 40% of the workforce could be affected, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That is admittedly a worst-case scenario that the federal agency says it doesn’t expect to occur.

But the broad range of potential deaths highlights the unpredictability of flu viruses in general and this swine flu virus in particular because it hasn’t behaved the way researchers have expected.

The number of potential deaths is much higher than that usually seen in seasonal flu, which kills an estimated 36,000 Americans a year, and is even higher than the nation’s most recent pandemic.

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