The concern is that we want to keep people at their work (for the economy), protect the most at risk, and prevent it from mutating. If we vaccinate now and encourage good practices like handwashing, the disease won't spread as much.The worst case scenerio is that swine flu mutates with bird flu (H5N1), which is actually likely because swine flu can easily jump species (it's a big risk to ferrets, cats, and obviously pigs). H5N1 tends to stick to pigs and birds, but if a pig gets both swine flu and bird flu, the viruses could mingle and form a virus that's both deadly and quickly spreading, like the swine flu that killed many in 1919. However, if you are vaccinated for swine flu, you will most likely be safe from it, and as it will spread less because of less vectors, it's less likely it will spread at all.The uptake of it is: Get vaccinated when you can and wash your hands. If you're in a high risk group, chances are you will get first dibs. Other than that, there is nothing to worry about. It's a public issue that could be very bad, but that will almost certainly turn out to be nothing because the powers that be are working hard against it. It's like how Y2K was hyped up to be something awful, but thanks to the programmers and admins who upgraded vital infrastructure, there were barely any problems when the date occurred.