On Monday, an Oxford University study that appeared in the British Medical Journal said children should not be given Tamiflu because its side-effects outweighed any benefits. And in Scotland, a TV presenter confronted Health Secretary Andy Burnham on live tv after the presenter's 16-year-old daughter nearly died after taking the vaccine.
And, speaking of rabbis, BBC reports that a group of 50 rabbis and Jewish mystics have taken to the skies over Israel, praying and blowing ceremonial horns in a plane to ward off swine flu.
UPDATE Aug 15 - NEW CONCERNS IN THE UK: The Daily Mail is reporting that the British Health Protection Agency has written to 600 neurologists to tell them that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine.
It is expected that the vaccine will be given to about 13 million people during the first wave of immunization starting in October. Those over 65 will not be included.
There are concerns that there could be a repeat of what became known as the ‘1976 debacle’ in the US, where a swine flu vaccine killed 25 people – more than the virus itself.
A mass vaccination was given the go-ahead by President Gerald Ford because scientists believed that the swine flu strain was similar to the one responsible for the 1918-19 pandemic, which killed half a million Americans and 20million people worldwide.
Within days, symptoms of GBS were reported among those who had been immunised and 25 people died from respiratory failure after severe paralysis. One in 80,000 people came down with the condition. In contrast, just one person died of swine flu.
More than 40million Americans had received the vaccine by the time the programme was stopped after ten weeks. The US Government paid out millions of dollars in compensation to those affected.
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