Michael Fumento

Swine flu has proved a terrible embarrassment for the CDC and especially the WHO, as I'll be discussing in a forthcoming article. Still, all is not lost says John Mackenzie, head of the WHO's secretive Emergency Committee. He told Reuters that swine flu is just as severe as we saw in [the pandemics of ]1957 and 1968 at least with regard to children. “We are not seeing deaths in the elderly but we are seeing them in a more important group of the population, healthy young adults.” He offered no data in support – and for good reason."I want your child! Also, can I have a glass of water?"

Younger people comprise a larger portion of swine flu deaths than seasonal flu does, but only because so few people in the other age categories are dying. The American College Health Association Pandemic Influenza Surveillance of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) in Colleges and Universities currently indicates that of 95,000 cases serious enough to be reported (and by definition milder cases go unreported), there have been merely four deaths.

The CDC does report that pediatric deaths have been about double the normal toll during a flu season, but as I've explained previously they're almost certainly overcounting - which is possible because of the distinction between dying of the flu and with the flu. In any case, with the CDC estimating a total of 12,000 dead of flu this year (as opposed to the usual 36,000), those 272 still comprise only 2.66 percent of total deaths.

None of which is to say 272 deaths isn't a tragedy. Of course it is. But it's also a tragedy when the World Health Organization, you know, the only world health organization we have, continues to lie to us and our media continue to accept it without question.