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Production Problems Plague Delivery of Swine Flu Vaccine
Despite significant shortfall, CDC says all Americans who want shot will be able to get one, eventually
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
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THURSDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- As reports of swine flu infections continue to pour in from across the United States, health experts labored Thursday to explain why delivery of stocks of the long-awaited H1N1 vaccine are falling behind schedule.
Federal officials had projected that 40 million doses would be on hand by Oct. 15, but not even 13 million doses had arrived by Tuesday.
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"They [federal health officials] made some earlier projections, but it looks like a number of those projections have been overly optimistic," said Dr. Ciro Sumaya, a professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, and a member of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
On Tuesday, a top CDC official acknowledged that production of the vaccine was lagging.
"I understand and share everyone's desire to have more vaccine. I wish that we had more than we have right now, but we do have more coming out every day," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a press conference.
The resulting shortage has forced the delay of many mass vaccinations, and harried doctors are dealing with worried parents anxious to get their children inoculated. While the swine flu continues to produce mild-to-moderate disease in most people, children and young adults seem most vulnerable to the virus. During the six-week period ending Oct. 10, 27 states had reported 4,958 people hospitalized with H1N1 swine flu, and more than half -- 53 percent -- of those people were under the age of 25.
Experts such as Sumaya explained that glitches can -- and apparently did -- occur at several points in the complex process of developing a vaccine, especially for a virus that was first identified in April.
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Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 10/23/2009
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SOURCES: Ciro Sumaya, M.D., professor, Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, and member, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; Stuart Beeber, M.D., attending pediatrician, Northern Westchester Hospital Center, Mount Kisco, N.Y.; John Treanor, M.D., professor, medicine, and chief, infectious diseases division, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, N.Y.
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