Demand for H1N1 Vaccine Causes Shortages

While millions of doses are being distributed, spot shortages of the H1N1 flu vaccine are being reported, and Americans remain divided over whether to get it.

In a new CBS News poll, more than half say they're unlikely to be vaccinated, but almost 60 percent of parents .

In Bakersfield, Calif., people began lining up at daybreak this weekend for the H1N1 vaccine. But the supplies ran out before everyone could get vaccinated, a situation likely to be repeated across the nation as the first supplies of vaccine become available, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 6.8 million doses of vaccine are available, but states, so far, have only placed orders for 3.7 million.

Public officials promise there will be enough for everyone, but it will take time.

"When will the H1N1 vaccine be available here? Very soon, don't have an exact date, but sometime in the next two weeks," Susan Pugh, the nurse in charge of a New York City hospital's emergency services room, told Pinkston.

CBSNews.com Special Report: H1N1

Last spring, her hospital was swamped with patients after an outbreak of H1N1 flu at a nearby parochial school. Pugh says the experience helped the hospital prepare for this flu season.

"A lot of it was patient education and telling people, reassuring them that they could treat themselves at home adequately with fever control and fluids and rest," Pugh told Pinkston.

Doctors say that treatment works for most cases of any kind of flu but the H1N1 strain can also be fatal especially among children.

So far this year from the H1N1 virus. Just last week, federal health officials reported 19 new deaths in 10 states, seven of those deaths in Texas.

The possibility that the H1N1 flu can kill is prompting some parents to get their children vaccinated.

"I have a brother in law who is a doctor, and I'm going to do whatever he says. I think it'll be good," father Jacob Root told Pinkston

But the rush to get the vaccine to the public has unnerved other parents.

Public health officials insist the H1N1 vaccine is as safe as any other flu vaccine because the manufacturing process is the same.