Quote:
Originally Posted by joe_mullen
While the H1N1 vaccination is meant to decrease preventable deaths, it is also meant to decrease the significant strain (which we are already starting to see) on the health care system. Vaccines save money. While 400 deaths may not be "much", a sudden influx of unexpected very ill patients will overwhelm ICUs, clog up the ER and overwhelm family docs offices.
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I agree. The main concern with influenza isn't the number of deaths (though the more deaths we can prevent the better - unless you hate people I suppose). For every person that dies several will end up in ICU, a bunch more will either be hospitalized or take up the time of doctors and other health care professionals, and about 1000 will get sick.
I don't even think the health care costs are the big cost though. All those sick people will be for the most part unable to work for about a week (on average). In many cases other people will be staying home to look after them (e.g. if kids are sick one of their parents will end up taking a week off work). Based on previous pandemics, a lot of experts are suggesting that workplaces should brace for ~30% absenteeism at the peak period (a combination of people being off sick, people taking care of sick family, and people who stay home out of fear). That will have a huge effect on a lot of businesses - some may not even be able to operate. The economic costs could be quite significant - and probably at the worst time possible when we're trying to get out of a recession.
That's why the government considers it worthwhile to pay for a mass vaccination program - between health care costs and economic costs there would be a major hit on government finances from a full-blown pandemic.
The handling of the program has of course been a joke. I think it should have been limited to high risk groups and people living with or caring for high risk individuals for the first couple of weeks, then opened up to the public, since it is the high risk groups that are most likely to get the serious form of the disease. The combination of a free-for-all at the clinics and the media overkill causing some people to panic has led to the mess at the clinics, with people getting downright rude in the lineups from what I've heard (for example people taking their kids to the bathroom during their multi-hour wait not being let back in the line).