The Swine Flu 1976 Epidemic
Or was it Simply a Scare?

Two weeks after the death of David Lewis, health officials disclosed to America that the cause of his death was swine flu. The ominous name of the flu alone, is enough to set off a pandemic emergency crisis! After some quick testing done right after Lewis' death, government doctors discovered that another 500 soldiers had also caught the swine flu, but without getting sick from it. That was the beginning of what some medical experts considered a fiasco and to others it was one of the finest moments in America's public health bureaucracy. But as the critis are quick to point out, only ONE person died from the swine flu 1976 epidemic while HUNDREDS of Americans were killed or seriously injured by the vaccination that was administered to stave off the virus.

To understand what was happening in 1976 when Lewis death was pinned to the fact that it was indeed the swine flu that killed him, and the panic that followed...we need to remember the epidemic in 1918 where the Great Plague as it is sometimes called, killed millions worldwide in addition to the half a million American lives that were taken in it's clutches.

In light of that it is easy to understand why the government decided to go ahead with the costly program of the swine flu 1976 vaccinations, that would lead to the events following the death of Lewis. As for 'another 1918,' 1 didn't expect that," One doctor said later, "But who could be sure? It would wreck us. Yet, if there weren't a pandemic, we'd be charged with wasting public money, crying wolf and causing all the inconvenience for nothing ... It was a no-win situation.

People lined up at schools, medical facilities and fire halls across the nation to get the vaccination. Within days, several people fell seriously ill, that had gotten the shot and in PA several elderly folks got ill and died resulting in suspension of any more vaccinations in the state.

Several months later, after increasingly distrubing reports of the vaccine touching off neurological problems, especially rare Guillain-Barre syndrome, the government suspended the program, having inoculated 40 million people for a flu that never came.

Joseph Califano, one of the earliest to use the word "fiasco" in describing the swine flu affair, came to the conclusion that it all couldn't have been avoided. Califano, whom President Carter appointed Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare after beating Ford in the November election, said the doctors had no choice but to err on the side of the caution.

In "The Epidemic That Never Was," Califano said that faced with the threat of another killer plague with the potential to end millions of lives, the doctors were right to seek an inoculation program.

In conclusion... here is what we DO know... the government can and will quarantine whole cities if there are confirmed cases of swine flu found.

And it can happen overnight.

We highly recommend having an emergency preparedness plan or at least a 72 hour plan for yourself and your family. Be prepared and be comfortable!

Return from Swine Flu 1976 to Symptons of Swine Flu

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