Swine ‘Flu Conspiracy?

Since the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic in June last year, “swine ‘flu” (H1N1 virus) has caused 14,000 deaths globally – a fraction of the number caused by season ‘flu each year. Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, the former head of Health at the Council of Europe, has cried foul, accusing WHO of “faking” the pandemic, provoking an unnecessary scare and, in the process, providing pharmaceutical companies with a boon as “sleeping” contracts for vaccines were activated.

“It looks like the WHO is under the influence of industry,” said Wogarg. “It was stated in panic-stricken terms that this was a flu that could threaten humanity. This is why billions of medications were bought.”

To add to the conspiratorial feel of the whole thing, Wogarg points out that WHO softened their definition of “pandemic” shortly before the initial emergence of the H1N1 virus. By eliminating the requirement that influenza pandemics should cause “enormous morbidity and death” WHO wielded the term to panic governments buy up vaccines.

Other scientists such as Wendy Barclay, professor of virology at Imperial College London, say Wogarg’s accusation of conspiracy is ridiculous, that in fact we should count ourselves lucky.

“In many ways, swine flu has been a dress rehearsal,” she says. “Next time, we may not be so fortunate.”

Read the full Telegraph article, Was swine flu ever a real threat? by Mark Honigsbaum.