I was not even aware of the 57–58 pandemic until I heard about it today. As is my habit, I promptly looked it up. I was shocked to learn that the pandemic killed between 1 and 4 million people worldwide. The odd thing is that a vaccine against the virus was developed in 2.5 months! Yet we did not hear about that all through the covid panic. Was it intentional? We may never know.

In the US, the flu was relatively muted, killing just over 100,000 people. Yet, the vaccine was developed in the US. As far as I can tell, the reaction to the pandemic in the US was non-existent except for vaccine development. Does that ring a bell?

I am certain that my question reveals my lack of knowledge of US history. I am just curious how many posters knew the details about the 1957–58 pandemic and the commonalities between that and covid:

1. Both pandemics started in China.
2. In 1957 China was not a member of WHO and did not tell anybody about the flu.
3. In the case of COVID, the Chinese were obliged to tell WHO. But they imparted the minimum info necessary.
4. In both cases, a vaccine was developed and deployed in record time. Surprisingly, the process took less time in 1957.

Were there any other similarities? Or stark differences?