ATLANTA, Sep 18, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. health officials said Friday 3.4
million doses of H1N1 flu vaccine are expected to be available the first week of
October.
Jay Butler, a medical epidemiologist and chief of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention's H1N1 vaccine task force, said most of these initial
doses of H1N1 vaccine will be the nasal spray form, which is not recommended for
pregnant women, people age 50 and older, or those with asthma, heart disease or
other chronic diseases. The first doses will primarily be given to healthcare
workers.
"We would anticipate that once we're up and going we should be seeing at least
20 million new doses of vaccine weekly going right on into December after when
we would hope to reach the capacity of having delivered 195 million doses,"
Butler said at a news conference.
"Right now there's every indication that we have a good match between the virus
that's causing disease and the vaccines we have to be able to prevent it."
Availability of the vaccine may vary, Butler said.
The H1N1 flu is in all 50 states, but is more prevalent in some areas such as
the Southeast and is mainly hitting children and young adults, Butler said.
"Most of the illness, appears to be moderate or moderately severe," Butler said.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International