What Should I Do If Vaccine Supplies Run Out?

September 1, 2009 -- Question: What should I do if vaccine supplies run out?

Answer: So a situation where vaccine supplies run out will have to be something that occurs after we have vaccines in place. So we have to get there first and the more critical question might be: What should I do if the vaccine is not available until later months, January or February? And I think the answer to that is an answer that works pretty well across the board with this situation is: Do not panic.

There are things that every one of us can do in terms of limiting the spread of the virus both for ourselves and for those around us: frequent hand washing, being aware if you feel like you're getting sick or someone around you is getting sick, to try to isolate yourself or that person as much as possible, and not go to work for instance if you're feeling poorly. Those sorts of things will have a big impact as well.

But every year is a flu year and in that sense it's not going to be any different. A large fraction of the world's population gets flu every year and although this is a new thing and it seems scary in some ways we're lucky in the sense that so far it looks like in case by case basis it's pretty mild, about as mild as seasonal flu. And even in the absence of a vaccine if we look towards the southern hemisphere things are not the kind of worst case scenario in their flu season down there.