H1N1 vaccine supply falls short of demand

But the worst could still be lurking as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared shortage of swine flu vaccine.

The federal government had expected that 120 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine would be readily available by October end but the CDC will only have 27.7 million doses of the vaccine by the month’s end.

CDC, which had expected 200 million doses of vaccine by end of November, has revised its estimate and is aiming to make available 65.9 million doses by that period.

The shortage has alerted the State and local health officials and they are hoping that the national emergency declaration will speed up efforts to handle surge of patients.

Clinics turning away people due to vaccine shortage
Due to vaccine shortage, many clinics in the nation are turning away people.

On Saturday, the Union County health department offered the swine flu vaccine clinic, where about 1,000 people received free vaccination, but nearly the same amount of people were also turned away due to vaccine shortage.

Even the Milwaukee public health workers found themselves in the same situation Saturday.

Further, New York public health workers, which were supposed to receive shots both against the seasonal and H1N1 flu virus, will no longer be vaccinated.

"We are nowhere near where we thought we'd be by now," stated CDC Director Thomas Frieden. "We share the frustration of people who have waited in line or called a number or checked a Web site and haven't been able to find a place to get vaccinated."

Though no specific projections have been made as to when the vaccine will be available, Frieden added, "We have confidence that ultimately there will be enough vaccine for everybody who wants to be vaccinated to get vaccinated.”

Production delays
The vaccine supply is short of demand as cases are increasing every day. Production delays have further exacerbated the situation.

Currently, the vaccine makers are grappling to meet the demand using old technology of developing vaccines from chicken eggs, which is a long process.

Novartis, which had contracted to provide 90 million doses of vaccine for the nation, is not expected to complete the order until first half of next year.

Glaxo has agreed to provide 7.6 million doses but it is still awaiting approval from Food and Drug Administration.

Some suppliers have also experienced delay in operations due to setting up of new production lines to cater to increasing demand.

The administration has spent more than $2 billion to develop newer, faster methods of vaccine production and is hopeful to soon overcome vaccine shortage problem.