The vaccine, which is currently in its inaugural
phase of testing, is expected to be available in mid-October, but
initially only to those considered at risk. Unlike seasonal flu, H1N1
targets young age groups with greater frequency than the elderly. Given
this tendency, Somerville will provide vaccines, on a voluntary basis,
to all of its school-age residents at no cost. "On the federal level,
it's been determined that it doesn't make sense to disperse the vaccine
here and there throughout the population," Paulette Renault Caragianes,
Director of the Somerville Department of Health, said. "Instead, it's
more functional to target a 'critical mass' of people, like the
students within a school."

While the at-risk groups will be
guaranteed protection, it remains unclear what the impending dangers
might be to those who lie outside of these categories. Last week, a
White House advisory panel released a report that allowed for the
possibility of a catastrophic pandemic leading to 90,000 deaths and
nearly 2 million hospitalized. Days later, the Centers for Disease
Control tempered the alarm raised by the predictions and labeled them
very unlikely. The conflicting reports, both within the media and
within the government, seemingly reflect the ambivalence of the general
population. Ron Villareale, an Easton resident, was perplexed by what
he saw as widespread "fear and paranoia". "People are ready to rush out
full throttle when it seems to me that it's only been a mild strain of
the flu," he said. On the other hand, Kathy Dervin, a Boston resident
seated opposite from Villareale, expressed her concerns, saying "it's a
novel flu, meaning it is, by its nature, unpredictable." In the coming
months, as flu season begins and children return to school, the various
predictions will undergo the scrutiny of time. One thing is guaranteed,
regardless of the virus' severity: Somerville's most susceptible
populations will indeed have the ability to protect themselves.