According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of September 27, 2009 there have been more than 340,000 laboratory confirmed cases of the pandemic H1N1 influenza and more than 4100 deaths. It is still hard to confirm the number of actual cases as many countries have stopped counting the mild cases. This may mean that the actual number of H1N1 cases is significantly higher. The flu continues to spread, and in North America, as of September 27, the increase in respiratory diseases has been higher than normal in the last two weeks.
In response to the need to protect the public, health-care workers, doctors, nurses, and those working in hospitals and clinics have, in many areas, been asked to get the new H1N1 vaccine. While the plan is to protect people, many of these individuals are protesting, saying that they should not be forced to get the vaccine as a condition of keeping their employment. In a recent article in the USA Today news, Sue Field, a registered nurse who works in a maternity ward and organizer of a rally to protest the mandatory vaccination of medical professionals, said "There's no proof this vaccine will protect us from swine flu or protect us from spreading it to other." Still, Dr. Richard Daines, the New York state health commissioner, says that the H1N1 vaccine is safe and the best way to prevent the spread of the flu. He also says that while there is a flu outbreak every year that results in about 2,000 deaths in New York and 36,000 deaths in the country, the H1N1 pandemic will most likely result in three outbreaks. (more...)
