Chapter 7: Role Models Summary and Analysis

In 1976, a young soldier died from what turned out to be the H1N1 virus, aka the swine flu. When the strain first appeared early in the century it killed millions around the world. The Ford Administration overreacted to the scare and ordered two million vaccines and caused unnecessary panic. As it turned out, the virus was isolated to just a few cases, the Ford administration looked inept, the rushed vaccine that wasn't thoroughly tested caused a neurological disorder known as Guillain-Barre syndrome at a higher than average incidence and the government was sued by those stricken with the syndrome. In 2009, the H1N1 virus appeared again and once again the threat was overestimated. Nations in Southeast Asia like China and Indonesia were particularly vulnerable to the virus as well as the Mexican state of Veracruz. By...