Around 40 million doses of the swine flu vaccination will be available in the United States by mid-October, reports the International Herald Tribune. As I read the article I remembered reading something in the Egyptian daily Al Masry Al Yawm a few days back about how the first round of shots was being given to kids in China. They reported that there were no side-effects besides the regular vaccination fever that some kids get. Every front page in the Egyptian news these days seems to be concerned with nothing other than H1N1, schools closing… Swine flu this, Swine flu that….But, anyway….
This got me thinking about Egypt. What is our government going to do about these shots?
If the United States is getting 40 million doses in October, how much are we getting and when. This number doesn’t even cover half the Egyptian population. Are we going to get enough shots to give to this huge population? I think not, seeing as the problem here is more than just Swine Flu vaccination. There are things worse than Swine Flu in this country, why is the government not worried about those? Why are we Egyptians not worried about the hygienic conditions of agricultural villages all along the roads between Cairo and Alexandria, or in Upper-Egypt? The answer is simple–we are apathetic to the things that matter and we concern ourselves with the superficial things in society, like rumors and gossip. Yes, us Egyptians love gossip.
I remember being very scared about going home to Alexandria for the weekend. I’d been getting calls all week from friends telling me about several people catching Swine Flu.
“My grandmother just told me that the number of cases rose from 30 to 60 at [Alexandria Sporting Club] in just two days,” my friend told me over the phone.
Others also told me that a friend’s brother, and another’s sister also got the flu.
“Don’t go to the club,” they told us. “Don’t go to the movies, or to malls, or to restaurants.” “Don’t eat out,” my own grandmother yelled one time.
But I have been eating out, going out, spending time with people and hearing the latest rumors, and not one was about anyone catching Swine Flu. If there were really 60 cases in one of the most popular hangouts in Alex, where everybody knows everybody else, wouldn’t we have heard something about it, wouldn’t we have heard of someone close-to-home catching it, and does every feverish kid have to have Swine Flu?
I come from a family of doctors, so I’m sensible when it comes to diseases. I understand that they are real, that we have to take good care of our healths, that we shouldn’t ignore a high fever or an aching stomach. But really why is every doctor I’ve spoken to completely unconcerned and seems to think it’s more of a government ploy than a real threat. Yes, the disease is real. Not, it’s not such a huge deal as everyone’s making of it.
I don’t know why I’m so concerned with this Swine Flu thing, but all the empty propaganda it’s getting is just getting on my nerves. I just want to understand more, but all I’m getting are words of warning. Not even operators on the government’s swine flu hotline have any data on whatever question you ask them concerned with the disease, even though they are supposed to be the experts since we see their number like 1000 times a day on national and satellite television.
Aren’t there more important things going on in the world and inside this country to worry about than this disease, just check out the front page of any paper and you’ll see — there are still wars happening out there people. Men, women, and children are dying everyday all over the world, and it’s not swine flu killing them, it’s guns and bombs.
Did anyone stop for a second to wonder how people in Palestine were doing these days while we were so worried about cleaning our Gucci bags, just in case a swine-flu-infected person was around us while we sipped our delicious Caramel Frappucinos at the nearest Starbucks and discussed who broke up with whom this past week? I highly doubt it.
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