@cstross A friend of mine in Canada just pointed something out.
I'll quote him directly: "Last time there was a major H1N1 scare there were mass vaccinations and people just got themselves vaccinated. This would not be the case now."
I think this, more than anything, scares me about this upcoming flu. H5N1 likely already has a vaccine that can be easily tweaked to fit ... but how many people will actually take it? (And will the US be idiotic and charge for it?)