29. 12. 09. - 16:00

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29. 12. 09. - 16:00

Swine flu fears 'exaggerated', readers say

By Thomas Hochwarter

A vast majority of Austrian Times readers think that the issue of swine flu has been artificially hyped.

A stunning 70 per cent said in the most recent poll conducted by the English-language news platform that they had no plans to be vaccinated as they regarded the topic as exaggerated by companies and the media.

Only around one in ten readers (10.2 per cent) participating in the poll said they had already been vaccinated, while 10.6 per cent said they did not know yet whether they would go to one of the vaccination centres set up so a large number of people can be vaccinated against the A(H1N1) virus.

And just 9.2 per cent of Austrian Times readers said they regarded the possibility of being vaccinated a "good thing".

A recent report by the Austrian Health Ministry has it that more than 254,000 people living in Austria have been vaccinated. That number, however, does not come close to equalling the 520,000 doses of "Celvapan" vaccine Austria received from pharmaceutical firm Baxter at the beginning of November.

Health officials said the number of people infected with swine flu was decreasing but stressed that the disease was still in a pandemic state.

Two people – an 11-year-old Italian girl from Italy and a 41-year-old German man – have so far died of the disease in Austria.

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The new Austrian Times poll wants to know how readers expect the Austrian economy to develop in 2010.

Will businesses and banks finally recover from the effects of the global economic crisis sparked by the collapse of American bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008? Or will the Austrian economy continue to struggle?

Contribute now to give your opinion!

Austrian Times

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