Unmasking Scientific Expertise

ABSTRACT

In early Feb 1976, two cases of swine flu were discovered at Fort Dix NJ. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) identified the virus as Hsw1N1, similar to the one that caused the 1918 pandemic. Serologic testing indicated that the virus had spread to more than 200 recruits. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices soon recommended "an immunization program be launched to prevent the effects of a possible pandemic." After consulting with a group of scientific experts and public representatives, President Gerald Ford launched a nationwide vaccination program to immunize "every man, woman, and child." The National Swine Flu Immunization Program, which cost $137 million and received bipartisan support from Congress, soon met with controversy. The president's critics accused him of politicizing science during an election year, while skeptics questioned the safety of the vaccine. Reports of severe adverse effects--specifically, cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome--began ricocheting across the media. As public health experts and the administration grappled with a growing public backlash and the complex logistics of a mass immunization program, they learned something shocking no new cases of Hsw1N1 had been detected outside the Fort Dix cluster.