The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said he expects the distribution of the vaccine for the deadly H1N1 virus—which began this week—to be a bumpy process, but that the vaccine will soon be widely available.
To date, 2.4 million doses of the nasal vaccine are available for the virus commonly referred to as swine flu; of those, 2.2 million have been drawn down for the states, said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC in Atlanta. All states have ordered the vaccine, which is made available as soon as it comes in from the production line. The injectable form of the vaccine will be available next week, and the CDC will offer a weekly update each Friday on vaccine availability in the country.
“We wish we could predict the future, but we can't,” Frieden said in a news conference. “Flu season generally lasts well into May, so we have many months where we don't know what will happen,” he said, adding later that the greatest concern is if the virus would mutate into a deadlier strain, or into a strain that the current vaccine cannot protect. Until now, the strain of virus has not changed.
Frieden also said experts have seen added stress on the hospital emergency departments, primarily because people with flu-like symptoms have visited the hospital fearing they have the disease, Frieden said. It also shows there has not been an extra burden on intensive-care units, which house patients on ventilating systems.
Meanwhile, Frieden addressed what he identified as the three primary concerns: first, it is wrong to assume that the flu is mild illness; second, for those concerned about the vaccine’s safety, Frieden said the H1N1 vaccine was produced in the same way as the seasonal flu vaccine; and it is not too late to receive the vaccine because it is unknown what the season will hold, and a vaccine is still the best tool against the disease.
What do you think? Post a comment on this article and share your opinion with other readers. Submit your comments to Modern Healthcare Online at
mheditorial@modernhealthcare.com. Please be sure to include your hometown and state, along with your organization and title.
