I was reading some stats in one of the UK papers about the percentage of people vaccinated this season in the UK, with no public media campagn, versus last year when swine flu fear was high. I was surprised that the percentages were still quite close. They only declined by roughly 5% IIRC.

So, depending if you're a glass half empty or half full kind of person, you could spin that in a number of ways. I'm curious what the percentage was in the year before swine flu. Without more info, one might argue that vaccination rates have remained relatively stable inspite of a lack of a vaccination campaign this year.

Anyway, as is typical with most flu pandemics, this particular strain (i.e. the 2009 H1N1 "swine flu" strain) will likely be the predominant strain for at least a few flu seasons, so it will remain with us for a while. I'm not particularly worried about it, unless it mutates along the way. However, despite what the naysayers may say that it's just another flu, the 2009 H1N1 is different from the typical seasonal flu strain in that it tends to strike younger folks much harder than is typical, and it does infect the deeper lung tissues more readily than is usual. And some older folks will still be somewhat immune compared to younger people due to past H1N1 exposure, so that's one silver lining to this strain.