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3 Am. J.L. & Med. 425 (1977-1978)
The Swine Flu Immunization Program: Scientific Venture or Political Folly

handle is hein.journals/amlmed3 and id is 443 raw text is: The Swine Flu Immunization Program: Scientific Venture or Political Folly? Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D.* ABSTRACT The author of this Article, an internationally recognized coroner perhaps best known among laymen for his incisive and tenacious criticism of the Warren Commission report on the Kennedy assassination, turns his at- tention to the federal government's 1976-1977 Swine Flu Immunization Program. Dr. Wecht contends that although this program may have been viewed by its key proponents as having great public health importance, or perhaps even political value, its creation and continuation nevertheless were scientifically unjustified. Furthermore, he contends, the federal government failed to inform the public adequately of important facts about the program's origins and progress, and it mismanaged the pro. gram in several important respects. Among the topics he discusses are swine flu's epidemiological history (including the 1976 Fort Dix outbreak that propelled swine flu into the national consciousness); the key ele- ments leading to the government's decision to immunize; the govern- ment's failure to reevaluate the program seriously as problems arose; the shortcomings of the federal swine flu statute; the inadequacy of the government's investigation of the deaths of three persons in Pittsburgh within a few hours after being vaccinated (a matter that was of immediate concern to the author in his role as Coroner of Allegheny County, Penn- sylvania); the long-delayed termination of the program following the emergence of a possible statistical link between the immunizations and an increase in the incidence of the Guillain-Barr6 Syndrome; the finan- cial and human costs of the program; and the need for calmer, more objective decision making in future situations where immunization of the general populace is being considered. * Coroner, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; Director, Pittsburgh Institute of Legal Med- icine; Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine; Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health; Research Professor of Law and Director, Institute of Forensic Sciences, Duquesne University School of Law; Honorary Life Member, American Society of Law & Medicine; Member, Board of Editors, American Journal of Law & Medicine.

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