When Private David Lewis, an Army recruit, reported for sick call at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in February 1976, complaining of mild, flulike symptoms, no one dreamed he would be dead within hours. Nor would anyone have imagined that his death would open an unprecedented episode in American public health: a federally funded campaign to immunize every man, woman, and child in the United States against a feared “killer” epidemic of swine flu.

At first the choice seemed clear: If the epidemic came, the nation would be protected; if it did not, the program would still have been a prudent investment. “Dollars for lives” became the byword of federal officials. Yet almost nothing seemed to go right. The program was mired in controversy from the outset and, beset with an unending string of problems, it fell farther and farther behind schedule. And the epidemic never came. Moreover, despite repeated assurance of safety, swine flu shots were later linked to Guillain—Barré syndrome, a paralyzing and sometimes fatal neurological condition. Over a decade later, lawsuits over alleged vaccine–induced injuries were still underway.