Medicine: Flap over Swine Flu

When Administration health officials begin lining up Americans for their flu shots next fall, joked Democratic Senator Warren Magnuson of Washington, "they might have 'em vote at the same time." Magnuson's wisecrack, made during hearings on President Ford's emergency request for $135 million to inoculate all Americans against a possible outbreak of swine influenza (TIME, April 5), was tacit recognition of the emerging controversy surrounding the proposal. Despite final congressional approval and the signing of the measure into law last week, some legislators and doctors are wondering out loud whether the flu program is merely another symptom of election-year fever.

Ford's request...