Massive Shortfall Seen for H1N1 Vaccine

Officials Expected 120 Million Doses by October, but Now Say They'll Get Fewer than Half That Many; Children First in Line

(CBS)  The H1N1 flu virus is expected to make a comeback this fall. But America's timetable for treatment is changing. Health officials had predicted having 120 million doses of vaccine ready by mid October.

Now they say it will be more like 45 million. And with two doses needed to be effective, the nation's protection blanket will start out much smaller than the experts hoped, as CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton reports.

Just two weeks into a national testing program to see if the H1N1 vaccine is actually safe, comes word that there will be far fewer shots available in the fall, when a national vaccination program is scheduled to get started.

"We're in a race between vaccine and virus," said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "This gives the virus a bit more of an advantage. We'd like to start in as many people as soon as possible."

In July, it was projected that 120 million doses would be available by October, with another 80 million in the following months. Now, citing production delays, the government has been told by manufacturers that only 45 million doses will be ready by October 15, with approximately 20 million doses being delivered each week thereafter.

"The fact that we have fewer doses I think actually will focus attention," Schaffner said. "it will mean that we all will have to be much more specific about whom we will ask to show up."

The government says that it still expects to receive the same amount of vaccine as originally planned, just on a somewhat longer schedule. Experts say that now kids may jump to the front of the line.

Schaffner says that's both because children are more at risk to become sick from the virus - and because they're more likely to help spread it.

"Children excrete more virus. They are less hygienic. And they're very enthusiastic about kissing mom, dad, grandma, and aunt Susie," he said. "They are the great distributors."

[Newster1]

Good, let THEM be the guinea pigs for an untested hastily rushed thru production vaccine that contains who knows what in it!

"Children excrete more virus. They are less hygienic. "

Yeah, that's where this stuff all starts- in schools and then they infect mom/dad who spread it at work.

[steeler_nation6]

All this Obama bashing is a colossal waste of time. This vaccine would be getting rushed to market regardless of who was elected.

Our medical profession is failing us - they have become dealers, not healers. A vaccine for a typically mild virus...I'll let someone else be a human pin cushion.

[DaVicar5]

"I'll let someone else be a human pin cushion."


Great!
I move up one space in the line!!!

[creeper00]

Another half-baked Obama program...touted as the solution and then found sadly wanting.

You'd think he'd get tired of backtracking. Doesn't seem to be happening. You'd think people would get tired of finding out that what he told them was not the truth. That does seem to be happening.

We have three and a half more years of this incompetent neophyte. God help us.

[steeler_nation6]

They haven't even determined yet if this vaccine is safe, and people already want to line up for a shot. Are we nuts? More people will die or become immune-damaged from the vaccine than from the illness itself. Wake up America... we need more vaccines like we need holes in our heads.

[DaVicar5]

We need at least seven holes in our heads...two for the ears, two for the eyes, two for the nose, and one for the pie hole.
Additional holes MIGHT be useful, for drainage and ventilation, as well as routine inspections and an occasional tune-up.

[docpeter1953]

RE: steeler_nation

So true.

Let those concerned line up to drink the Kool Aide. I will sit back and watch, wash my hands frequently, wear a mask, and wait. soon all the H1N1 will pass and only the strong will be left.

[DaVicar5]

I don't understand why children will be first in line to get the vaccine?
Children are not our most productive citizens, and they probably won't know how to make more vaccines, if all the adults die.
They should seriously re-think this silly policy.

[wyodutch]

Amen brother.. I for one, am sick and tired of the slobbering, mealy-mouthed "kids come first" crap.

[creeper00]

Ah, but our children are our "most precious possessions." Just ask any school board member who wants a bond issue passed.

You can guilt people into doing something by citing their children faster than you can by holding a gun to their heads.

[DaVicar5]

by creeper00 "Ah, but our children are our "most precious possessions."



...unless some kid can figure out a way to keep my prostate from growing to the size of a grapefruit, they're pretty much worthless to me.

[ohgrowup]

Massive Vaccine Efficiency Shortfall

What happens to the efficiency of the vaccine when the virus will mutate into a more dangerous form?

[McHineguy]

And we think these guys know how to fix the health care system. What a joke this government has become. A president that sells snake oil and a congress that demeans its own constituents. Not a one of them able to tell the country the truth without spin.

[wtcmedic911]

yup, i trust the goverment to run things just right.... got a bridge in brooklyn i have a deed to. want to buy it?

[cyberus-2009]

Shortage = price hike = higher pharma-corp profits

So this is news how?

Why don't we just go north of the border to Canada and get some flu meds... oh, wait the government won't let us do that... ???!!!

[rightbehind]

The co-ops are a Trojan horse that will change nothing. Vote public health care straight up or down.

[rightbehind]

co-ops = divide and conquer. Will there be rationing?? Say it isn't so. We have privatised health care. This can't happen in America.

[rightbehind]

This can't happen! Our health care system is privatised. Remember the law of supply and demand. Looks like we need public health care!

[searingtruth]

Health care is a basic human right, like police and fire protection.

Sheesh Democrats.

See how difficult it is to articulate.
ST


"The Republican and Democratic parties have delivered us into the hands of darkness."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[DaVicar5]

"These silly sayings are beginning to drone on my brain"
Sabre Tooth


The Furniture in the Knave

[vancouverboo]

Is this the same government that wants to be in charge of our health care system? They can't even get flu vaccine for all of us.

[docpeter1953]

Don't be a moron. This has nothing to do with the govt. It has everything to do with big pharma and how fast they want to produce their poison for everyone.

[govmess]

America keep the pressure on...this is just another example of poorly planned, poorly thought out Obama program...it would hav been wise for his whiz kids to check with the manufacturers of the vaccine before he said he would have 120 million doses available by October.

We also have another taste of what a government run Health Care Program will be like with the Cash For Clunkers program....Read what the Milwaukee Sentinel says about the government run Cash for Clunkers program:
"The Cash for Clunkers program has been nothing short of an administrative nightmare. This program has been nothing short of a processing joke as it began late, crashed computers, web site was difficult to follow and ran out of money before the program started.

Now we learn that dealerships are not being paid by the government. Imagine that. A government run program that was first under funded and now appears to be under staffed to process the paper work for the Clunkers program".

Obama promised the dealers would receive their checks in 10 days....for most three weeks has gone by and they are getting their checks. Any government program is an abomination but this one will be the biggest disaster based upon how this Administration delivers their programs. They are all intellectual academics who have no idea what the real world is all about.

[searingtruth]

"Our last great hope is doing the same as our last great tyrant."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[pecandrive]

Must be Obama's fault this time...
"Oct 16, 2004 ... John F. Kerry jumped on the flu-vaccine shortage yesterday with a new television ad blaming the situation on President Bush."
Don't hear much from the Dems now...

[docpeter1953]

And, if you recall, there was no statistically significant increase in confirmed cases of the flu that year to prove that the vaccine was/is effective in limiting flu spread and or symptoms. Flu vaccine is all big pharma hype.

[tincup356]

I for one do not trust ANYTHING that the government is trying to force on people like this vaccine,,,,It is just another SCAM to make BILLIONS for the pharmaceutical industry,,,,,more rewards for LOBBY DOLLARS collected,,,BY BOTH parties. I will refuse to take their poison.

[searingtruth]

"The prick upon my finger, suffering such often occurrence, became subtle assurance that all was well."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave