The core pharmaceutical preventive intervention was vaccines and this has Box 1. A Series of ''Firsts'' about Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 N The first pandemic to emerge in the twenty-first century. It has been more widespread and remains ongoing, compared to SARS. N The first pandemic to occur after major global investments in pandemic preparedness had been initiated. N The first pandemic for which effective vaccines and antivirals were widely available in many countries, thus requiring public health authorities to earn and retain the confidence of health care providers through whom such are usually distributed.