Flashback: Who Remembers The 1974 Swine Flu Scare?
March 24, 1976: Ford Orders Swine-Flu Shots for All
By Tony Long 03.24.08
Wired
1976: President Gerald Ford orders a nationwide vaccination program to prevent a swine-flu epidemic.
Ford was acting on the advice of medical experts, who believed they were dealing with a virus potentially as deadly as the one that caused the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic.
The virus surfaced in February at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis told his drill instructor that he felt tired and weak, although not sick enough to skip a training hike. Lewis was dead with 24 hours.
The autopsy revealed that Lewis had been killed by “swine flu,” an influenza virus originating in pigs. By then several other soldiers had been hospitalized with symptoms. Government doctors became alarmed when they discovered that at least 500 soldiers on the base were infected without becoming ill.
It recalled 1918, when infected soldiers returning from the trenches of World War I triggered a contagion that spread quickly around the world, killing at least 20 million people. Fearing another plague, the nation’s health officials urged Ford to authorize a mass inoculation program aimed at reaching every man, woman and child. He did, to the tune of $135 million ($500 million in today’s money).
Mass vaccinations started in October, but within weeks reports started coming in of people developing Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralyzing nerve disease, right after taking the shot. Within two months, 500 people were affected, and more than 30 died. Amid a rising uproar and growing public reluctance to risk the shot, federal officials abruptly canceled the program Dec. 16.
In the end, 40 million Americans were inoculated, and there was no epidemic. A later, more technically advanced examination of the virus revealed that it was nowhere near as deadly as the 1918 influenza virus. The only recorded fatality from swine flu itself was the unfortunate Pvt. Lewis.
History’s verdict of the program is mixed. Critics assail Ford, accusing him of grandstanding during an election year — it did him no good, because he lost anyway — while kowtowing to the pharmaceutical companies. Supporters laud the ability of the nation’s health bureaucracy to mobilize so effectively.
Those who remembered 1918 probably consider it money well spent.
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In 1974 I was lucky to remember my name much less anything else.
Mass vaccinations
That was before we realized our government hates us “bitter small-town Americans,” “nation of cowards” and “racist rednecks,” that our own president went on a world tour just to tell the world how horrible we are. It was also before we knew we couldn’t trust science with this global warming scam.
I remember that crap. And I didn’t get a flu
shot then either.
Crappy ass 70s of ugly people, clothes, shitty
cars, and the age of global iceage.
..and eventually Jimmy jackass carter. The misery index and death by piggy virus - The 70’s have returned.
there is no fucking way in hell I would except a “vaccination” from the government!!! and they better not force my kids either.
They will try.
yes i do remeber, and it was all bullshit, it never took off.
I’ll never forget the case of swine flu i caught in 1974, because i fainted dead away! while sitting on the toilet with a 104 degree fever. Luckily my girlfriend was able to pick me up, wipe my ass and get me back into bed, where I suffered the worst body aches of my life for about a week. I remember guaging my recovery by seeing how badly the last little joint in my baby finger ached. You see every joint in my body, from my fingertips to my toes, neck, knees and hips, hurt like hell for about a week, then a little less in my baby finger, then a little less in my hips, until i was able to walk again. Yeah, I’ll never forget the case of swine flu I had in 1974. it was horrible!
That’s horrible. Jeeze, I hope this doesn’t spread.
No, I don’t remember the swine flu in 1974 (wasn’t alive then), but I watched a video that showed an ad that aired at that time. Total govt propaganda!
The video quoted The New York Times as equating this swine flu outbreak to the 1918 flu epidemic. “It was 25 times more deadly than normal influenza and if such an epidemic came today, killing a similar number of Americans, 5 million Americans would die.”
This is just media stirring up the pot to try to gain readers and take advantages of the fear of the American public. Glad I found at least one site that shows both sides of the story!
here’s the link: http://www.newsy.com/videos/looking_back_for_answers/
I remember the 1974 episodes. I was in the military but was on vacation in another state. It hit where I was stationed and I returned as it was winding down. It was more debilitating than a killer as is stated in “Doug” above. I didn’t listen to the government even though is was in the military. Are we going through it again or is this really another strain that can be dangerous?
yes i sure do remember…i was preg. and that was why I went to get the shot because of the warning. they didn’t give me what all others were getting which they said was live and what I was given was something different. I didn’t get sick but I do remember the mass scare I lived in Detroit, michigan at the time
rihgt, it’s said that swine flu had been in 1976.
but don’t you think, that this virus could mutate?
it was be hidden a long time, and now it may attack with more power.
I was in the Military in 1974 and after i received the shot to prevent the flu, I was overcome by the symptoms that Doug mentioned. I was only 20 and I thought I was going to die. I lived off base and had to drag myself to the bathroom to be sick. Eventually I just stayed in bed and prepared to die. I did get through it but I never want to feel that way again.
Same thing happened to me. I worked on a military base and was told if we did not comply we would be fired. I had problems for 2 years.!! nuretlogical and lower back pain Im told now DO NOT! take the new vacinne if you had problems in 1976…
I wish someone would address what in the hell we are suppose to do!
I remember having the flu in Jan’74. I was in grade 10 and knocked out of school for 2 weeks. My mom had to take of work, which she never did, to take care of my brother and me. I remember having a high enough fever that I was delirous and aching all over. I was week for a long time. I then went back to school and caught it again; the second time was worse than the first. It ran through my whole family, cousins, aunts, etc. We had to hunker down I mainly remember the fever and pain.
Yes, I remember well the flu of 1974. It was the worst flu of my life. High fever, delerious for perhaps a week, room spinning around, barely able to stumble to the bathroom and back about twice a day (sleeping the rest of the time), and out of work for two weeks. When I finally went back to work the place was nearly deserted (perhaps 2/3 of my coworkers being still sick at home). I understand that flu shots have some small risk, but the risk from the flu itself seems to me to be worse.
oh i had it and thought i should die from it! i had two small children and couldn’t even move enough to care for them. if that is what the world is in store for from the current forcasts, God help us all…
doug, shabda, Ross, rosamundi - nice try to get people scarry - what a bullshit !
Does anyone remember the recommendation to drink Ouzo during this outbreak?? I say what the hell, it’s worth a try now too!!!
The title of the blog post says 1974, but the content says 1976…?
I remember the swine flu scare. I took the shot. I told my boyfriend the other day and he argued with me that there was never before swine flu. He said it was the Hong Kong flu. I told him, “no I got the shot”. I was so curious because he made me start to doubt myself that I looked it up and here I am I was right. It was the swine flu. I did not get sick from the shot. But I did not get the flu either. My daughter was about four years old then. I guess my memory is not as bad as I thought. Yehhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got the flu in 1974. I was a healthy 16 year old at the time. To this day, it is the sickest I have ever been in my life (and I’ve had thyroid cancer and been a pedestrian run over by 2 vehicles). I was in bed for 2 weeks. 104 fever lasted 10 days. Chills, headache, body aches, wretched chest pains from chronic, unproductive coughing. Apparently, I was never in danger of death but I would have sworn the reaper was coming for me. Take all precautions. You don’t want to feel that way.
The reason I came to this site is because some people are telling me I could’nt have received the swine flu vaccine in 1974. I was 17 then I, do have memory lapses from the 70s like: how ? where? when? who??!! If you got thru that decade you know what I’m talking about. BUT I do remember my parents taking me to dr. and I received what I have always believed to be SFV. Within 7-10 days I could not walk, legs and feet were paralyzed, and my mom had to feed me because my hands were paralyzed. I was diagnosed in the hosp. in 1974 in Canton Ohio as having GBS from the flu shot. So my question is this: did anyone else out there get the Swine Flu Vaccination in 1974??