"In the grand scale of things, the number of people likely to die from it seems miniscule compared to other threats."

What are other threats are you thinking of?

What other diseases are estimated to cause half the US population to be infected, one million hospitalizations, and 90,000 deaths? Even if most people who get it are fine after a few days, it's a pretty big deal if half the population is going to come down with it; H1N1 sure is going to get a lot of chances to kill even if it's not so deadly for any one individual.