Category: Swine Flu (H1N1 or Influenza A)

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Pandemic Personal Preparedness Preparedness Planning Swine Flu (H1N1 or Influenza A)

Contagion

I just came back from watching the movie contagion. A very interesting movie that had many in the audience chatting after about whether or not something like this could happen. Could there be a mass pandemic outbreak of this proportion? If there was….would there be a run on food supplies, medicines, etc?

I am not the kind of person who sees a movie like this and runs out and starts planning for the next big outbreak but…it did make me a little nervous? Could it happen by accident? Could terrorists figure out a way to turn a disease into a weapon? What would the outcome be and are we prepared as a country and world to react to this type event?

For the past few years we have had on our site what the industry calls a “pandemic kit“? It is just some basic supplies that someone can use to help stop the spread of infection. Are there other basic supply options we should all look at having on hand? I for one am going to look into it. As a parent and husband I would hate to thinnk that I didnt take some basic precautionary steps….just in case.

I truly hope a movie like Contagion doesn’t cause people to panic…but that it at least stirs some people to action in terms of their own personal preparedness plans.

Categories
Humor Swine Flu (H1N1 or Influenza A)

The Lighter Side of H1N1

With all the serious discussion about H1N1 Swine Flu, sometimes it’s just nice to see a lighter side to the topic!

Check out this H1N1 Halloween Pumpkin from Chris Streeter on Flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisstreeter/ / CC BY-ND 2.0
 
A little bit of comedy to the more serious topic of the H1N1 Swine Flu
A lighter side to the usually more serious topic of the H1N1 Swine Flu
Categories
Swine Flu (H1N1 or Influenza A)

Swine Flu Vaccine Shortage has Congress Fuming!

As reported in a recent ABC News Story, Congress is investigating the current shortage in swine flu vaccine availability and they’re not pleased to say the least!

Specifically, members of Congress are upset at Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who promised back in September:

“We are confident that vaccine is going to be far more widely available. There is enough vaccine and will be to vaccinate every American who wants to be vaccinated and we are pushing it out as quickly as we can.”

That statement is particularly upsetting to pregnant women and young children across the country that waited several hours for a swine flu vaccine, and then being told there was none available for them. To add to the confusion was the complexity added by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when they created two lists of people who would receive the vaccine first, which included a “high-priority” and “most-at-risk” group).

While starting off slow, the swine flu is now running rampant throughout the United States, as ABC Reports… ‘According to figures released by the CDC last week, since April an estimated 22 million people in the U.S. have become ill from the H1N1 virus, 98,000 people have been hospitalized, and 3,900 people have died, including 540 children.’

Categories
Seasonal Flu Swine Flu (H1N1 or Influenza A) Technology

Google Cures the Flu, Well Almost…

Well Google can’t exactly cure the flu (yet!), but it can get you a lot closer to a favorable outcome. They recently launched the very useful Flu Shot Finder application that is integrated with Google Maps.

As its name suggests, the Flu Shot Finder helps you identify local places where you can get a flu shot.

One of the best features is that it shows you what type of flu shot is available at each individual location:

  • seasonal flu shot
  • H1N1 (swine) flu shot
  • both types of flu shots

Another great feature is that they show which locations are “Temporarily Out of Stock”.

However, even if a location looks like it’s not out of stock, it’s best to call ahead of time to determine hours and availability. In fact, it’s also worth calling the locations that are out of stock,  since there’s no guarantee the information being provided to Google is real-time and a location may have restocked their supply of flu shots already.