is getting your seasonal (regular) flu shot more important than getting h1n1 vaccinated?

Allow David McCandless at InformationisBeautiful.net to illustrate:


The light blue circle is seasonal flu (9.4%), and the tiny pink one (second from the bottom) is H1N1 (0.5%), a.k.a. "swine flu." The numbers listed are

Note: The latest figures for swine flu put the fatality rate at more like 1.1%. There is no question that swine flu is going to hit much harder this winter than it did last, and these numbers may change completely by the end of the flu season. The CDC is already reporting that most cases of flu this year are the H1N1 strain.

Additional Caveat: I believe that the seasonal flu number is from those who were hospitalized for the disease, though the same holds true for H1N1 (swine flu), so the relative comparison should still be accurate. So there isn't a 9% fatality rate for everyone who gets the seasonal flu, just those hospitalized. Still, there are, worldwide, annually 250,000 to 500,000 deaths from seasonal flu, as opposed to currently under 3,500 H1N1 fatalities. Again, those numbers are subject to dramatic change as flu season continues.

Regardless of which is worse, get your seasonal flu shot. H1N1 vaccinations are likely to be limited to high-risk populations.