Sat, 10/17/2009 - 3:56pm
From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091017/ap_on_he_me/us_med_swine_flu:
"As the swine flu outbreak strikes the U.S. early and hard, health officials note a worrisome number of child deaths and warn that supplies of vaccine will remain scarce for at least the next couple of weeks.
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It also delays efforts to blunt increasing infections.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about half of the child deaths since September have been among teenagers.
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And overall for the country, deaths from pneumonia and flu-like illnesses have passed what CDC considers an epidemic level.
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Fortunately, most people recover from the new strain with simple at-home care, just as with the regular flu.
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Regular winter flu kills 36,000 Americans a year, and around the country some clinics aren't getting shipments of seasonal vaccine as quickly as expected either, as manufacturers juggle the extra work. About 82 million doses of seasonal vaccine have been shipped, and 114 million eventually will arrive, enough for typical demand, Schuchat said."
It seems strange to me that they are only shipping "enough for typical demand," since it seems like there would be more than "typical" demand for a vaccine for such an over-hyped disease.
Also, I'm surprised to see so many people still skeptical about the safety of getting the vaccine.