City of Berkeley Should Prioritize Swine Flu Vaccine for High Risk
H1N1 flu is a new virus, originally coming from pigs (hence the name swine flu). The virus then mutated, and became contagious to humans. Due to the fact that it is a new virus, the community at large is not immune to it. It has spread throughout the world from person to person in the same manner as the seasonal influenza virus. In the upcoming weeks and months, the Berkeley Public Health Department anticipates higher numbers of hospitalizations and flu-related deaths. The new virus may also change and adapt in unexpected ways and cause more severe illnesses. Currently, the symptoms are very similar to those of a regular seasonal flu.
The City of Berkeley has strongly recommended that priority be given to those who are at a higher risk for H1N1, which includes people older than 65, people with chronic illnesses, pregnant woman, and young people up to age 24. These groups should receive H1N1 vaccines when they first become available, in order to limit the amount of hospitalizations and deaths caused by this illness.
In order to stop the widespread damage H1N1 is causing, people with a greater risk to become severely sick or die should be vaccinated first. In a fire, firemen don’t come to save the people on the street watching the fire first, because they are not in any immediate danger. The firemen first rush to save the people in the building who may die if they don’t save them in time. In any serious event, one first saves the civilians who are in immediate danger and then come back and try to insure the rest of the population is not in danger of being harmed. In a similar way, vaccines need to be given out to high priority groups first and then can be given out to the rest of the civilians.
Many people may say that this is unfair and unjust. However, truth be told, H1N1 is simply like any other flu to the majority of the population. Most people have strong enough immune systems and their bodies can cope with it simply like any other virus, which is just what it is. Only in a few cases involving high risk people can it cause severe illness and sometimes death.
People who are at high risk of swine flu are most strongly recommended to receive the H1N1 vaccination. However, there is no reason that people cannot make a choice and decide for themselves whether or not to get the vaccination. Making this vaccination mandatory for those of high risk would only cause a wide spread panic. There has already been a huge overreaction to this virus since it first began to affect people, in which schools were shut down due to the fact that only a few of the students were found to have H1N1. This is only a new mutation of the flu, a virus which almost everyone in this world has had at least once. The only reason this new mutation is affecting more people is because not many people are immune to it. H1N1 is not something everyone should live in fear of, it is simply another virus. Viruses are a problem the human race has been fighting since the beginning of our existence. Medicine is not something that can be forced to take and therefore H1N1 should not be mandatory.
Although the vaccine is already available, due to the small quantities, it is only being given out to those who are at high risk and even to those people only in small quantities. The City of Berkeley is trying to prioritize the high risk groups, but places with available vaccinations are not turning away anyone who is requesting to be vaccinated, thus anyone who wishes to be vaccinated will be. The clinics giving out these vaccinations are expressing their hope that people will let those at high risk come to be vaccinated first before those who are not at high risk come in to receive their vaccinations.
Because the virus is not a very serious problem for the majority of the population, people who are in greater danger should receive first priority unless people want to see more death and suffering. It is important to save those in immediate danger before trying to save others.
Needless to say, the vaccination should not be forced upon someone, even one of high priority risk. H1N1 is well established in our community and it does not seem that it will let up anytime soon. The City of Berkeley is making the vaccine more available to high risk people first, and by doing so they hope to decrease the impact of H1N1 in our community. The city is setting up clinics at all schools so that students may be vaccinated because we are indeed a high priority group. There will be a clinic at Berkeley High most likely sometime in the first week of December, in which vaccines will be given out to those with parental permission.
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