I don't generally try to keep up with the local news, but this time of year I sometimes try to catch the nightly weather report (to help decide whether I need to turn off the outside water, or cover the faucets, or whatever), and sometimes I'll end up watching a news story while waiting for the weather report. Up until a few weeks ago, it was very common to turn on the TV and see that one of the local TV stations was running a story about the local flu "epidemic". Apparently the number of cases of flu reported at a certain hospital in the county was doubling every week. And of course at the end of the segment a doctor would point out that "It's not too late to get the vaccine." Every time they aired the clip, they used the same video, but changed the numbers, of course, to reflect the latest weekly victim count.
Apparently the news anchor on that show was getting as weary of hearing that same story and seeing that same video as I was, because one night at the end of the presentation she mentioned that it appeared that a lot of the cases seemed to be people who had received the vaccine. After that, I never heard another word about the "epidemic".
Apparently the hospital must have been sending the TV station press releases regularly, to promote the vaccine, and as soon as the news turned sour, they decided that it was no longer newsworthy.
Tex
