Influenza Pandemic
April 2009

• U.S. Policy Regarding Pandemic-Influenza Vaccines
  September 2008  html  pdf  blog
• A Potential Influenza Pandemic: An Update on Possible Macroeconomic Effects and Policy Issues
  May 22, 2006  pdf  
  Letter to the Honorable William H. Frist, M.D., and the Honorable Judd Gregg
• A Potential Influenza Pandemic: Possible Macroeconomic Effects and Policy Issues
  December 8, 2005  pdf  
  Letter to the Honorable William H. Frist, M.D.

The Current Outbreak of Swine Flu in the United States

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The current outbreak of swine flu in the United States, Mexico, and other countries has raised concerns among policymakers and public health experts about the possibility of a pandemic and about the nation's ability to blunt the effects of such an event. (A pandemic arises when a new virus emerges that has not previously circulated among the human population; that virus causes significant illness in humans; and the virus is easily transmitted from one person to another.) Beyond the human suffering that a pandemic would engender, policymakers are also concerned about the potential for economic disruptions that might be layered on top of an economy already in recession.