Three people died on a cruise ship from hantavirus and the media coverage that followed treated it as a potential pandemic. Here is the actual context.

Since surveillance began in 1993, the United States has recorded roughly 30 hantavirus cases per year on average. About 10 people per year die from it. For comparison, lightning strikes kill 20 to 30 Americans annually.

The primary transmission route is exposure to aerosolized rodent droppings and saliva, and experts confirm the virus would need a major evolutionary leap to spread efficiently between people.

Moderna and Korea University's Vaccine Innovation Center are already collaborating on an mRNA hantavirus vaccine.

The market for a product targeting a disease that kills roughly 10 Americans per year is not driven by public health math. It is driven by fear, and the cruise ship coverage is doing exactly the work it needs to do.

@delbigtree