H1N1 is not comparable to COVID-19 by any stretch of argumentation or imagination. H1N1 was a variant of the well-known, well-studied influenza virus for which vaccines had been developed and administered for decades. The response should have been straightforward. Vaccine development, and drug development in this setting is completely different. The risk is much better understood, and even then vaccines were only available at the scale needed after the pandemic peaked. In fact, Biden and the Obama administration and the American population were lucky that the Bush administration set up the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza: Implementation Plan back in 2006. This mechanism was in place to generate and purchase H1N1 2009 vaccine and even then, the pandemic ended on it’s own – as other influenza pandemics did. Imagine if it were Obama and Biden with COVID- we'd all be wearing masks and staying our basements. By the time a vaccine was ready, we would no longer need it - just like in H1N1 - except the death tally would be significantly higher.
One has to remember that lockdown also has its cost paid for in human lives (the tally would go to other diseases such as cancer, heart disease etc). Just look at the stats with regards to cancer diagnosis and treatment during COVID-19- and that is a deadly disease; imagine all the others. Delayed diagnosis and/or treatment costs lives, loss of jobs costs lives - lock-down costs lives. Of course, so does COVID-19 - so what does one do? Well, the only way out is to generate herd immunity, the only way to achieve that is through vaccination, the only way to do that is to develop vaccines, the only way to do that quickly is the TRUMP administration's - operation warp speed. And while that is happening, also develop drugs to treat COVID-19, lower mortality, ascertain that respirators are available where needed- wow - the Trump Administration playbook.
H1N1 is not comparable to COVID-19 by any stretch of argumentation or imagination. H1N1 was a variant of the well-known, well-studied influenza virus for which vaccines had been developed and administered for decades. The response should have been straightforward. Vaccine development, and drug development in this setting is completely different. The risk is much better understood, and even then vaccines were only available at the scale needed after the pandemic peaked. In fact, Biden and the Obama administration and the American population were lucky that the Bush administration set up the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza: Implementation Plan back in 2006. This mechanism was in place to generate and purchase H1N1 2009 vaccine and even then, the pandemic ended on it’s own – as other influenza pandemics did. Imagine if it were Obama and Biden with COVID- we'd all be wearing masks and staying our basements. By the time a vaccine was ready, we would no longer need it - just like in H1N1 - except the death tally would be significantly higher. One has to remember that lockdown also has its cost paid for in human lives (the tally would go to other diseases such as cancer, heart disease etc). Just look at the stats with regards to cancer diagnosis and treatment during COVID-19- and that is a deadly disease; imagine all the others. Delayed diagnosis and/or treatment costs lives, loss of jobs costs lives - lock-down costs lives. Of course, so does COVID-19 - so what does one do? Well, the only way out is to generate herd immunity, the only way to achieve that is through vaccination, the only way to do that is to develop vaccines, the only way to do that quickly is the TRUMP administration's - operation warp speed. And while that is happening, also develop drugs to treat COVID-19, lower mortality, ascertain that respirators are available where needed- wow - the Trump Administration playbook.
Reference: An HHS Retrospective on the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic to Advance All Hazards Preparedness. https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/mcm/h1n1-retrospective/Documents/h1n1-retrospective.pdf