The nation's top public health officials urged the American public to get the H1N1 vaccine and said that available vaccine doses are expected to reach the 100 million mark this week.
“For a while, people have been told to get to the back of the line,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a new conference. “Now it's your turn.” Sebelius said demand for the vaccine is still high, and some states have just opened their reserves to the general population.
Sebelius led the news conference that also included Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Nicole Lurie, assistant secretary for preparedness and response; and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Lurie said, after a recent meeting with officials in Europe and Mexico, she returned “proud of what we accomplished” in the U.S., such as vaccinating many in the population and having a transparent relationship with manufacturers.
According to Sebelius, the U.S. will honor its commitment to donate doses of the vaccine to the World Health Organization for use in other countries, although a date for that has not yet been determined.
“In terms of the timetable for the donation, we are still working with the World Health Organization to determine when they will be ready to receive the vaccine. That's an ongoing dialogue,” Sebelius said, adding that about a dozen countries have joined the U.S. on the donation committee.
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