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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 2734098" data-attributes="member: 19675">Can't really say where the anti-flu vaccines are going- my Dad is an MD (Allergy/Immunology) and was only able to procure enough to cover his family and staff...As for the fear vs fearmongering...The reason for the fear about this strain of avian flu is that it is closely related to the 1918 strain that wiped out 50 Million people worldwide...without the benefit of the wonderful disease vector of high-speed air travel, high-speed rail, or even the prevalence of automobiles.  Many people died in transit without passing the disease along.  That is much less likely in the modern age- those carriers would be MUCH more likely to be able to reach their destinations today.Furthermore, flu vaccines don't eliminate the possiblility of catching the flu or even dying from it- they just reduce the odds of either and mitigate the symptoms.Flu is also orders of magnitude more infectious than SARS or anthrax.  And while anthrax spores can last decades, flu is also pretty durable as viruses go- it can survive on a door handle for days.  SARS is a relative weakling.Still, as has been pointed out, for it to reach pandemic stage, it has to become much more virulent in humans than it currently is. And according to the stuff I've seen, no virologist knows how many mutations or how much time that would take...One who was being interviewed on one of the cable news channels, however, did make what he called a conservative estimate of 5 years until it does actually become the killer that the media is talking about.</blockquote>

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