H1N1 and the Media

This is just a short blog about a controversial topic that has been blown out of all proportion by our friends, the media.

This pandemic has offered another frenzied feeding to the media. They have had a wonderful time tracking every little variation of H1N1, both good and bad, predominantly bad. The result of their reporting has been responsible in the large part for the public chaos over vaccinations for H1N1.

They have whipped the population into a state of nervous confusion, especially people with children. This has resulted in huge lineups at clinics because of jammed telephone lines by people trying to get information from the local authorities. A debate in parliament followed, with the intention, so it would appear, of trying to find a culprit to which the blame can be attached. If ever there was a time when co-operation is needed between parties, this is it with a hope that cooperation will find a solution to the mess.

Personally, I don’t think anyone is to specifically blame. There has been a huge rush to create a vaccine, get it on the market and provide for people who may be ‘at risk’ of getting N1H1. It has been a combination of all these factors, plus the media, which have contributed to the current state of affairs. Also, when there is media frenzy like this, you get hundreds of people who are not in the ‘at risk’ category, managing to get the shot before anyone else and this makes for debatable headlines, too.

As I’ve mentioned before, the media does a lot of good, but they don’t achieve anything when instilling fear and despondency among people.