This course aims to give you an overview of a case study from the risk communication point of view upon the emergence in 2009 of a novel influenza strain in humans and the attempts to thwart it with a vaccine as drumbeat of threat intensifies.

At the end of the course, you will be able to understand the:

• communication mechanisms that occurred during an outbreak of a new pathogen in humans, and be informed about

• risk/benefits of vaccination

• complicated intersection of public health and the vaccine industry

• scientific and economic issues that limit vaccine supply

• logic of embracing uncertainty

• disconnection between desire for vaccine and its use