source: thehealthyeconomist
by: Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Let's take a walk down memory lane for a few moments, shall we?
Not so many months ago, in the Spring of 2009, the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu) made its grand entrance onto the media scene.
Front page articles and leading TV news stories were the order of the day. Everyone seemed petrified that this was the next flu pandemic, the ONE that would be as bad as the 1918 pandemic (Spanish flu), or at the very least, the 1968-69 Hong Kong flu outbreak.
At the time, I blogged about the ridiculousness of the situation and how folks were clearly being manipulated and primed with fear for a certain mass vaccination effort to come in the Fall 2009. In one of my very first blog posts in April 2009, I joked that this would be a great time to visit Mexico and that I was not in any way concerned about this new flu emerging.
Did I stock up on hand sanitizer or start washing my hands more frequently than normal? Are you kidding?
The sound of Big Pharma executives salivating in their corner offices (or perhaps on their yachts) was audible to anyone with a shred of common sense. After all, pandemics can be incredibly profitable events, no? Nothing opens up people's wallets quite as fast as fear.
Sure enough, with the start of school in August/September 2009, the propaganda machine cranked up in full force.