HHS review of a vaccine contract sparks worries about preparedness for a potential bird flu pandemic

In the spring of 2009, the first flu pandemic in four decades began. Caused by an H1N1 virus that emerged from pigs, likely in Mexico, it spread quickly around the globe.

The world got lucky in 2009. Doubly so. The “swine flu” virus was distinct enough from previous H1N1 viruses that it could cause a pandemic, but it had enough genetic similarities to viruses that had circulated for decades that many people had some immune defenses, which blunted its severity.

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