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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Swine Flu Shots Will Start Next Month: Sebelius

US 'on track' to have plenty of vaccine by flu season

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(AP) – The nation's first round of swine flu shots could begin sooner than expected, with some vaccine available as early as the first week of October, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today. Sebelius said she is confident the vaccine will be available early enough to beat the peak of the expected flu season this fall, and that early doses are intended for health care workers and other high-priority groups.

"We're on track to have an ample supply rolling by the middle of October. But we may have some early vaccine as early as the first full week in October. We'll get the vaccine out the door as fast as it rolls off the production line," she told ABC's This Week. Sebelius said the vaccine doses will be distributed immediately to designated locations across the country once they are available.

Drugstore operators are beginning their seasonal flu shot campaigns several weeks early, saying they expect greater demand for the vaccine in a year when the swine flu strain has dominated the news.
Drugstore operators are beginning their seasonal flu shot campaigns several weeks early, saying they expect greater demand for the vaccine in a year when the swine flu strain has dominated the news.   (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius gestures during a briefing about the upcoming seasonal flu season, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009, at the National Press Club in Washington.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius gestures during a briefing about the upcoming seasonal flu season, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009, at the National Press Club in Washington.   (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius listens as President Barack Obama speaks to reporters while meeting with his Cabinet at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius listens as President Barack Obama speaks to reporters while meeting with his Cabinet at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009.   (Charles Dharapak)
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Every state has a plan saying these are the sites to get the vaccine as quickly as possible into people's arms. That's where the distribution will go. - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

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8 comments
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WallyEFunk
Sep 13, 09 4:06 PM CDT
And does it work if U have the money, U get the shot? Reply
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odowd80
Sep 13, 09 4:25 PM CDT
What the right hasn't figured out yet is that these shots are actually designed to turn conservatives into Obama-worshipping zombies! Just wait, Glenn Beck will be revealing the "facts" behind the mandatory Obama shots any day now! Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
riffran
Sep 14, 09 2:39 AM CDT
@odowd80..lol..you give the left too much credit, for being able to develop an innoculant that actually does the aforementioned "zombification". but it is funny
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IN RESPONSE:
riffran
Sep 14, 09 2:42 AM CDT
tough decision aye?...I remember Giardesil was suppose to be safe also, and for most it was.....but then there was a few.....oh boy..not good
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Cortez
Sep 13, 09 7:11 PM CDT
Virus mix-up by lab could have resulted in pandemic It's emerged that virulent H5N1 bird flu was sent out by accident from an Austrian lab last year and given to ferrets in the Czech Republic before anyone realised. As well as the risk of it escaping into the wild, the H5N1 got mixed with a human strain, which might have spawned a hybrid that could unleash a pandemic. Last December, the Austrian branch of US vaccine company Baxter sent a batch of ordinary human H3N2 flu, altered so it couldn't replicate, to Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, also in Austria. In February, a lab in the Czech Republic working for Avir alerted Baxter that, unexpectedly, ferrets inoculated with the sample had died. It turned out the sample contained live H5N1, which Baxter uses to make vaccine. The two seem to have been mixed in error. Baxter is making the Swine Flu vaccine Right Now Ya'll better do your research Reply
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