As the number of swine flu cases is budding in the US, the vaccine is posted much slower than the government had expected. Vaccine manufacturers have notified officials that they can not make good on their targets, Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a press conference aujourd 'hui.
As of Wednesday, about 11.4 million doses of vaccine against the pandemic H1N1 were available. There are a few weeks, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that at least 40 million doses would be available by late October and possibly double. The new estimate is 30 million, maybe a little less, Schuchat said today. It does not specify that manufacturers demand for trouble meeting but weaker than expected yields cities and strict quality control measures that the reasons for the delay. CDC has a "vaccine locator" on the home page of its flu.gov site Web to help people know where they can be vaccinated. But actually get the shots can be "quite difficult," conceded Schuchat, as demand far exceeds supply at the moment.
The delays add to the concerns expressed by some experts that most of the vaccine will not be ready before the H1N1 peaks. Now there influenza activity "widespread" in 41 states, Schuchat said that is four more than last week and nationally, 6.1% of doctor visits are for influenza-like illness, which said she is "very high for all the time, especially in October." the mortality from influenza and pneumonia is also rising, a survey of 122 cities has shown, and is now "above the threshold epidemic, "said Schuchat. "All these markers suggest that it is a flu season very busy and very difficult."
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