Let’s have another reality check over the now over-hyped swine flu pandemic.

So far, since the beginning of the year, swine flu has been responsible for over 816 deaths world wide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 51 of these deaths have been in the USA.

As sad as this is, let’s compare this to a real world figure of a similar variety. Standard influenza, the everyday common flu, is responsible for approximately 36,000 deaths in the USA per year. If we multiply this by .58 to get a seven month value of 20,880 deaths to roughly match our current position in the calendar, regular influenza is 409 times more deadly than swine flu.

So why do we have government even discussing mass inoculations, pandemic emergencies and military intervention on US soil? Seriously, what’s the scare?

The scare is based on pure speculation. H1N1 swine flu virus is in the same family tree as the Spanish flu, of the great 1918 pandemic. That pandemic killed an estimated 50 to 100 million world wide, 500,000 to 675,000 in the US alone, at about a 2% mortality rate.

Again, as horrid as this is, that means there was a 98% survival rate and our medical science for dealing with hypercytokinemia, which was the leading cause of death stemming from the Spanish flu, is leaps and bounds above our previous methods of dealing with the problem: nothing at all! At least now we have ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers, as well as T-cell inhibitors which can offer at least and avenue of attack against hypercytokinemia.

This scare also assumes that swine flu is going to mutate to have a worse effect than it currently does. This certainly isn’t a given fact. Even if it does, and it follows in the Spanish flu’s footsteps, the Spanish flu did it’s work in about nine months time and then simply disappeared as the human immune system naturally reacted and prevented the illness.

So why not play it safe anyway, ignore the fact that regular influenza is currently 409 times more deadly, and get inoculated against swine flu?

In 1976, when the first swine flu scare went through, 40 million were given vaccine shots to help prevent swine flu. Yet, the CDC and other medical organizations now state that there is was no effective vaccine against swine flu, and a new vaccine needed to be created. It was created earlier this year, but it’s yet untested.

From this timeline at WebMD:

“Pandemic swine flu vaccine is already rolling off the production lines of the five different vaccine makers supplying the U.S: 46% will come from Novartis, 26% will come from Sanofi Pasteur, 19% will come from CSL, 6% will come from MedImmune, and 3% will come from GlaxoSmithKline.

“By mid-July, clinical tests of the vaccines sponsored by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases will begin at the eight Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati; Emory University, Atlanta; Group Health Cooperative, Seattle; Saint Louis University; University of Iowa, Iowa City; University of Maryland, Baltimore; and Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.

“The five vaccine manufacturers will also start separate clinical tests in the U.S., Australia, and Europe. These tests will begin in July and August.”

So, now the questions are piling up. What happened to the 1976 vaccine? If the 1976 vaccine didn’t work, why were 40 million Americans given the shot? If the 1976 vaccine didn’t really work, how do we know that this fast-tracked new vaccine will do any better? Why is the government pushing for everyone to be inoculated with this currently untested vaccine, to the point that they are considering military intervention on US soil?

For my own concern, I don’t see swine flu as a deadly problem. Regular influenza is far worse in fatality rate and far more wide spread. There are too many questions concerning these new vaccines and no where near enough time between the start of clinical tests and the beginning of deployment this autumn, to know whether the new vaccines are effective or even dangerous. The swine flu vaccine of 1976 had hundreds of people developing the extremely rare Guillain-Barre syndrome after vaccination. Thousands have filed suit over the years for this and other illness they claim came from the vaccine. Are similar dangers going to rear up for the new vaccine?

Even more worrisome in all this, is that the government has given legal immunity to any manufacturer of the swine flu vaccine.

This means that if there are unwanted effects, causing crippling illness or death, no one will be able to sue for any compensation. Instead, some special fund will be created by the government, with compensation being dispensed at the whim of a government agency.

That alone is enough for me to avoid the swine flu vaccine. When government steps in to protect an industry from retaliation for causing harm, something is seriously wrong.

Each person will have to decide for themselves, of course. For me, I don’t see the benefit and I see no real danger from this puny piglet plague.