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Archive for the ‘flu’ Category

The United States will face a swine flu vaccine shortfall of 45 to 55 million doses by the end of the year but half of the population could still be vaccinated, a senior US official said. “I don’t think we will get to the original goal” of 195 million influenza A(H1N1) vaccine doses delivered during the US government’s fall vaccination campaign, said Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

But he tempered that the government may obtain 140 to 150 million doses, “which quite frankly I think will likely be enough because we don’t anticipate more than half of the people want to get vaccinated. “If we get to 150 million, we will likely have as much as anybody needs,” Fauci told the media.

As of Friday, 16.1 million doses of swine flu vaccine were ready for shipping, and over 11 million doses had been sent out to state health authorities. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has already warned that demand is outstripping supply of vaccine for the novel flu strain, as 46 of the 50 statçs now report widespread A(HINI) activityatan unusually early time of the year.

‘What we have seen in the US is a significant dichotomy or gap between the demand and the supply,” warned Fauci. President Barack Obama has declared a national emergency for doctors and nurses to better deal with the rapid spread of the virus that has infected millions and killed over 1,000 people in the country.

But Fauci insisted the vaccine shortage would not change Washington’s promise to donate 10 percent of its doses to the World Health Organization (WHO) for distribution to the poorest countries. “That pledge is still valid but we have to think to make sure that we get the most vulnerable in our population taken care of before the release of 10 percent of our vaccines,” he said.

Fauci explained that manufacturers are facing difficulties delivering as much vaccine as expected because of the lengthy amount of time needed to grow the virus in chicken eggs for vaccine compared compared to seasonal flu strains.