On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus (called Swine Flu) had reached Phase 6 of their April 2009 (updated from 2005) version of the pandemic influenza preparedness and response, PIP guidelines.  Phase 6 was a designation that indicated a global pandemic was underway, justified as a new virus spreading beyond 2 countires and highlighted the “need to implement resonse and mitigation efforts”. [1, 2, 3]

0n April 29, 2009 the WHO reported a new H1N1 influenza virus had emerged in 9 countries and spread to 74 by June 11, 2009, thus triggering the first global flu pandemic in 40 years.  On June 11, 2009, the WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan declared  “the world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic.”  Except the virus was milder than a normal influenza outbreak, and a month earlier (May 6, 2009) the WHO changed the  definition of what criteria constitute “a pandemic“! [1, 2, 3]

There was a big push for a fast-tracked vaccine, and 4 months after the declared pandemic, in October 2009 the vaccines rolled out, with manufacturers indemnified! Depending on the countries regulator, clinical trials were either 4 weeks in a few people or not required at all “as many clinical trials were done with similar annual vaccine preparation, and the assumption is that the new pandemic vaccine will behave similarly,” thus shortening the timeline of for approval. [11]

England had ordered 132 million doses before there was any trial data. Only 6 million people, mainly pregnant women and children took the vaccine.  The US CDC in July 2009 stopped testing, and said to diagnose “probable” or “presumed” as H1N1, thus exaggerating cases, but also advised recovered patients to “go ahead and get vaccinated anyway”. [5, 6]

In August 2010, a few months into vaccine roll out Finland, Sweden and Iceland identified a problem in children and adolescents who developed narcolepsy. [4, 7]  In February 8, 2011 the WHO reported 12 countries with narcolepsy cases, but advised to vaccinate anyway as it appears to be associated with only GSK Pandemrix vaccine and not a “general worldwide phenomenon”. The vaccine was also attributed to febrile convulsions and miscarriage.

It took until 2013 before public health England acknowledged they had a narcolepsy problem too, and only 11 years later, in 2020 did public health England published more data that says in retrospect it was worse than we thought! [3, 8, 9, 10]

On August 10, 2010 the WHO declares an end to 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. [12]

  • In 2009 the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza (AHMPPI) of 2008 was used to guide Australia’s response to the H1N1 pandemic.  The AHMPPI was review in 2019, but was ignored for the COVID-19 coronavirus (respiratory virus) pandemic.  “Australia had been in the pandemic “ALERT” phase since 2005 following the emergence of the avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection in humans.” [14] Which curiously Australia’s first Australian Action Plan for Pandemic Influenza was released Oct 2003. [13]

“The word pandemic refers to how widely dispersed a disease is, not to how severe the disease is,”… the definition of the word is “not set in stone.” said David Ozonoff, professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health, May 2009. [14]

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