Only one death occurred during the 1976 swine flu outbreak, but it infected well over 500 individuals at an army base in Fort Dix. The young man who was initially ill with the disease complained of feeling slightly ill but died only 24 hours after his initial complaint. This scared many people including the president of the United States at the time, Gerald Ford. This incident made a large amount of hysteria occur within the government and this made rounds on whether or not it was important enough to inoculate everyone.

Only two weeks after the death of the young man, health officials released to the public that the disease which caused his death was the Swine Flu. This, linked with the high number of people who were infected in such a short time frame made it possible that the disease would become a worldwide plague. This is when the idea of creating a vaccine was more on the side of being necessary. This was when the vaccines were ordered to be made by the President. This seemed hasty but was done without much knowledge of the American citizens prior to the conception and deployment of the project.

President Ford got the project running eventually and made the people of the US get vaccinated against the swine flu. It is not known if this actually prevented the swine flu from spreading, but it is speculated that it may have saved humans from the possible worldwide plague. There are many different opinions on how the president’s decision was made hastily. The most recent outbreak of the swine flu has also made many people question how the health care system is prepared to deal with such outbreaks. Vaccines for the swine flu are now available very quickly.