After an army recruit died of the disease at Fort Dix and about 13 other soldiers became sick, the federal government ordered mass immunizations.
The scare was so great that the state of Wisconsin even recruited two of its most visible athletes, Green Bay Packers safeties Johnny Gray and Steve Luke, to warn the public to get immunized. This was the hilarious PSA they made:
The disease never even spread beyond Fort Dix, but it's believed side effects from the vaccine caused Guillan Barre Syndrom in upwards of 500 people and even killed 25 of them. So, as it turns out, the immunizations were actually worse than the disease itself. Oh, and the Packers went 5-9 in 1976, in case you were wondering.
Anyway, I'm just hoping swine flu results in us getting an Aaron Rodgers and BJ Raji PSA sometime soon.
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