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" A recently declassified U.S. government plan for how to react in the face of a pandemic flu has some scary, but realistic predictions.
According to a 2009 Department of Defense plan, if a flu pandemic strikes, about 30 percent of the U.S. population could fall ill, with 3 million hospitalizations and 2 million deaths. Basic services, such as medical care or essential supply deliveries, will probably be disrupted.
In the plan, the government also says it assumes that a vaccine against a completely new flu strain wouldn't become available for several months. Even after that, production will ramp up slowly.
Though that level of illness may seem high and the pace of vaccine production slow, it's completely realistic and based on years of data on flu traits and vaccine production, said Dr. Richard Webby, a flu expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Vaccine production "is done every single year, so those timelines are pretty well hammered in stone," Webby said. "
" A recently declassified U.S. government plan for how to react in the face of a pandemic flu has some scary, but realistic predictions.
According to a 2009 Department of Defense plan, if a flu pandemic strikes, about 30 percent of the U.S. population could fall ill, with 3 million hospitalizations and 2 million deaths. Basic services, such as medical care or essential supply deliveries, will probably be disrupted.
In the plan, the government also says it assumes that a vaccine against a completely new flu strain wouldn't become available for several months. Even after that, production will ramp up slowly.
Though that level of illness may seem high and the pace of vaccine production slow, it's completely realistic and based on years of data on flu traits and vaccine production, said Dr. Richard Webby, a flu expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Vaccine production "is done every single year, so those timelines are pretty well hammered in stone," Webby said. "
