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38 million doses of H1N1 vaccine available: CDC
by Arushi Chaudhary - November 7, 2009 - comments
Increasing amount of swine flu vaccines are being made available especially to the priority groups, including pregnant women, caretakers of children and adults with medical history
Atlanta, November 7 -- Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday said that over 38 million doses of vaccine against the pandemic influenza are now available.
With a continuous rise in the H1N1 activity in the US that has now spread to 48 states, need for adequate vaccine doses is being constantly felt. With an increase in the supply of vaccines, the situation is expected to improve.
Ample supplies procured
11 million doses were made available in the last week of October and nearly 22 million in the week before. Another eight million are expected to arrive in the coming week. Talking about the H1N1 situation and effectiveness of the vaccine, a CDC official said, “Virtually everything is H1N1 now. As supplies increase, things should go better.”
Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that almost 91 million doses of the flu vaccine have been shipped and another 114 million are expected to be shipped this season.
The number of patients visiting the hospitals with flu-like symptoms is much higher than what is usually seen around this time of the year. While 7.7 percent of visits to doctors were due to influenza-like symptoms last week, the number stood at 8 percent the week before.
On Thursday, the CDC said that it is spending a whopping $ 2.25 million in order to procure 10,000 doses of peramivir - an intravenous anti-viral drug. The anti-viral drug is being ordered for CDC’s national stockpile. In addition to this, use of experimental drugs for critical patients was approved by the Food and Drug Administration a fortnight ago.
Shortage still persists
Despite a large number of vaccines being made available, officials acknowledge that the shortage still persists as there are discrepancies between the number of people who are getting the vaccine and those who need it.
Meanwhile, health officials in New York City have been drawing flak for releasing the swine flu vaccine to organisations like the Goldman Sachs. Talking about the incident, Dr Schuchat commented, “The workplace is a very common place for adults to get vaccinated.”
The availability of the vaccine has also brought up the issue of it being administered to high-risk groups that includes caretakers of children, pregnant women, and adults with a complex medical history.
According to the CDC, 15 paediatric deaths in the last week were attributed to H1N1 virus. Another three were caused due to a certain influenza A virus that is yet to be sub-typed.
Since Aug. 30 this year, at least 672 deaths and 18, 000 hospitalizations due to swine flu have been reported across various age groups, the CDC said.