CDC reports rise in H1N1 vaccine availability

As state health departments and healthcare providers wait for more shipments of the H1N1 flu vaccine to arrive, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there are 24.8 million doses available as of Thursday, an increase of 1.6 million doses since Wednesday.

“We're not where any of us had hoped to have been as this point,” Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters in a news briefing. Schuchat also acknowledged state and local health departments for what she called their “incredible work” as the demand for the vaccine continues to outpace supply.

Schuchat also discussed the availability of anti-viral medications that are used to treat the deadly virus. In early October, an additional 300,000 bottles of the liquid Tamiflu were sent to states to supplement existing supplies. In addition, the commercial sector continues to increase production, and Relenza, another anti-viral, is also available, Schuchat said.

Fluctuations in the disease could occur in the weeks ahead, according to Schuchat, who reminded reporters that, in 1957, flu activity spiked and then fell during the autumn months, only to return again in the early winter.

“So I think that we'll need to be keeping our eye on demand and the increasing supply and understand the best way to prevent disease as much as we can,” Schuchat said.

On Friday, the CDC plans to offer another update on vaccine dose availability as well as report on the latest number of pediatric deaths.

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