Is it true that the H1N1 virus is not new and that they used to have a vaccine for it that would kill people?

Answer 1

The H1N1 influenza virus is not new, there are different strains of it that have been around since at least 1930. But the 2009 pandemic Swine Flu (A-H1N1/09) is much different and was new in 2009.

One of the prior strains of "swine flu" that was causing infections in 1976 caused a scare after some military men caught it and one died. Flu like it had not before been that serious in young and healthy people. A vaccine was developed and many people took it without any problems (I did). But it also had an unusual number of people who developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) and some died from the neurological disorder.

It was linked at the time to the vaccine, however, it was never actually proved by scientific study that the vaccine was the cause of those cases of GBS. Guillain-Barre Syndrome can also be caused simply by an infection of any flu virus itself. It had been known to have occurred prior to 1976. There was some speculation that the vaccine was also contaminated and that is what caused the GBS outbreak, although this was not fully studied or proven. It was enough of a problem, however, that the vaccine was withdrawn and immunizations were discontinued.

As it turned out, the flu infected only a small number of men at Fort Dix, New Jersey with only one death. It is also true that more people did get sick and die with problems that seemed to be related to the vaccine.

Today we have a different strain of flu than the 1976 swine flu and we have entirely different methods of making vaccines for influenza. The current pandemic flu vaccine is made the new way, just like the annual seasonal flu shots that have proven over decades to have a very high safety record.