On the recordJanuary 26, 2010
You know, it is just about 10 months ago that we first began to hear about this novel strain of flu that was coming across the border from Mexico. My home State of Texas was affected severely early on. And it is amazing that within such a short period of time the virus was identified, isolated, the genetic sequence was known, and then a vaccination was developed, tested, found to be safe, and delivered into the hands of Americans shortly after the commencement of the school year this year. We did lose many individuals to this illness, and for that we are sorry. But I would also stress that because of the efforts of the men and women who worked at the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, all the practitioners across this country who provided information and timely vaccination, the effect of this epidemic was significantly blunted over what it might have been. Those early telephone calls, those early conference calls in March and April of last year were nothing short of startling and alarming. {time} 1515 I do urge people to avail themselves of this vaccine before this flu season is over.
