Swine flu fever

Had a preventative jab today, and armed with copious literature I have (so far) not succumbed to any of the reported side effects of the swine flu vaccine: red markings, muscle ache, fever or fatigue. As always, whenever needles are involved there are loads of stories in the press about the downsides.

My view is that the vaccine might help stop variants that we know about so far, but viruses are difficult entities to slow down as life cycles can be rapid and mutations therefore inevitable over time.

The current vaccine deals with the 'known knowns', rather than the 'unknown knowns' and, even less, the 'unknown unknowns', as Donald Rumsfeld once said in another context. We may all soon be back in our doctors' surgeries, being innoculated against the next strain of 'known knowns'.