Are you kidding? The reason it's an issue is because if you contract it, there's a very good chance you'll die, whereas it's only an outside chance with the regular flu. It's not blown out of proportion one bit. It is a very dangerous virus. However, having said that I like my odds of not contracting it, and given that any vaccination involves being injected with a small concentration of the virus, which can sometimes lead to contracting the virus in the first place, I feel safer not getting the H1N1 shot.