While individuals may continue to debate whether the H1N1 “swine flu” vaccine makes sense for them, one thing seems beyond argument: Excessive uncertainty can severely handicap a public-health campaign like this one.

Some have a general aversion to vaccines and may stand beyond the reach of even the most successful public information efforts the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization could conduct.
But there are a lot more people than usual balking over this vaccine, and this suggests a need for much clearer safety messages than have been forthcoming from health-care leadership.
Instead, a lot of the discussion has centered on a litany of concerns about H1N1 vaccine. Among them: Its production was accelerated, which, according to numerous experts can be done safely because the vaccine is merely a change in flu strain and does not need to be tested as rigorously as a new drug.
However, speeding the vaccine doses to delivery left some health care workers, usually among those on the front lines for inoculations, uneasy about getting their H1N1 shot.
Locally, health officials said they haven’t heard much of an outcry against getting vaccinated, either from health care workers or the general public. But nationally reluctance has been expressed adamantly.
For example, last week in New York, where vaccination is mandatory for health care workers, a group has petitioned U.S. District court to get that mandate overturned and argues that the swine flu vaccine is a new drug that should be tested.
Some in the group simply oppose being forced by law to be vaccinated, but the overriding concern is that they don’t believe the drug’s safety and efficacy have been demonstrated. Ultimately they seek a halt to the national distribution of the vaccine as well. The group surely has a high burden to meet before a federal judge would be persuaded to take such a step.
But further outreach would help calm some fears. Public-education messages have not been clear or persistent enough at the national level, and efforts should still be made to correct this.
More recently, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has put out messages about safety aimed at parents, because children are among the groups most vulnerable to the virus.
In Hawaii, health officials plan to deliver consent forms to parents who must decide by Oct. 30 whether or not to vaccinate their children. These will be accompanied by a media campaign that next will expand to the general public.
That is certainly a necessary step for government officials at all levels. Judging by the concerns being raised across the country by the unconvinced, their work is not done yet.