Are you immune to the swine flu pandemic?

As I mentioned the other day, I have just finished reading a new book that backgrounds this swine flu situation and puts it into context by comparing it to the other pandemics of the last century.

I know that a lot of people are wondering about the necessity of getting the swine flu shot this fall.

The truth is that some people *do* seem to be a lot less susceptible to swine flu. People over 50 years of age appear to fall into this category, and it is thought that the fact that an H1N1 swine flu strain was in circulation prior to 1957 (the year the Asian Flu pandemic dropped swine flu off the map) might have something to do with that. Older people may have antibodies to the older strain of swine flu, and this may be protecting them to some degree.

But for the rest of us there is no such protection. Moreover, if you have children, they seem to be at particular risk from the new swine flu strain. The average age of hospitalized swine flu sufferers is somewhere in the mid teens.

If you are a parent, the good news in all of this is that your children will receive first priority when the vaccine becomes available. They will likely have the option of receiving 2 doses of the swine flu shot, the second administered about 3 weeks after the first to raise sufficient antibodies to fight off an infection.

The not so good news? Vaccine companies have found that they can grow only about one third as much swine flu as they can seasonal flu using the technology at hand. This means that swine flu vaccine will be in short supply for 2009, so the only people who will be able to get their hands on it will be those for whom swine flu represents a higher risk of serious complications.

Unless you are diabetic, suffer from high blood pressure, a heart condition, asthma, or another type of respiratory problem, you may have to forgo protection from a swine flu shot until some time in 2010.

To find out more about this issue, I strongly recommend getting a copy of the definitive title on this subject: "Survive Pandemic Flu: Understand and Protect Against Novel Strains Of Influenza". You can find out more about the book on this page:

Unless you feel convinced that you are immune to swine flu, this is one book you will want to have read by the time the virus appears at your front door.