1976 swine flu panic commercial - let's hope we get a repeat of this actually

andrew sullivan quotes someone else's rundown of the history:

The story goes like this: in February 1976, a soldier at Fort Dix died of the virus, and the Ford Administration, fearful of an outbreak, ordered immunization of the entire American population (only the United States chose this course of action, rather than “watching and waiting”). The Centers for Disease Control got to work immediately, manufacturing enough vaccine to begin inoculation by the end of the year, but, essentially, no one showed up. Fears arose as to possible debilitating side effects of the vaccine (some claimed that it caused a neurological condition called Guillain-Barré syndrome), and the government proved unable to offer reassurance (you can watch amazingly propagandist public-service commercials—from both camps—on YouTube). The affair ended ironically—swine flu never materialized in the general population.